The Big Picture · Top Five · Discussion
November 15, 2018/ 53 min/ Sean Fennessey · Chris Ryan · Adam Nayman
Ahead of 'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,' Chris Ryan and critic Adam Nayman (author of the book 'The Coen Brothers') each rank their top five Coen brothers films for Sean Fennessey.
17 films across 4 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
Chris Ryan's Top Fiverevealed worst to best on air
No. 1. Chris had it at No. 3 in a piece he'd written, moved it to No. 1 on a rewatch the night before taping, and settles on No. 1 for good here. It's the Coen film he loves 'deepest,' which came out almost alongside 'Goodfellas.' He cites the Carter Burwell score, the Danny Boy shootout, and Albert Finney and Gabriel Byrne's father-son dynamic.
No. 2. Feels of a piece with 'Miller's Crossing' to him: total immersion in a world 'living inside these guys' heads,' full of lines that turned into bumper stickers.
No. 3. Calls it masterful but different from the rest of his list: an interesting peek at the more mainstream-craftsman career the Coens could have had, like Soderbergh's.
No. 4. Says the Roger Ebert review (reading the film as an allegory for the rise of European fascism) was his first real encounter with film criticism that reframed a movie for him.
No. 5. His favorite of the late-period Coens; calls it the loneliest movie he's ever seen, softer and hazier than their other work, an existential wandering-artist story truer to life than most.
Adam Nayman's Top Fiverevealed worst to best on air; No. 5 is a tie
No. 1. The hardest he's ever laughed in a theater (especially the bribe scene with Sy Ableman's father), paired with one of the best last shots of all time. Reads its unresolved ambiguity (down to the closing 'Dybbuk?' credit) as the Coens' specialty: open-endedness that comes from something being genuinely unknowable, not from having nothing to say.
No. 2. Calls it probably their actual best film: a balancing act between surface messiness and total underlying rigor about everything from Cold War politics to genre-blending.
No. 3. Traces its Greek-myth undercurrent (the cat named Ulysses, the Gate of Horn club) and calls it a movie about collaboration and succeeding on your own terms.
No. 4. Says it doesn't get the credit it deserves; loves the black-and-white photography and the James M. Cain by way of Camus range of references, even if it lacks the 'pure popcorn appeal' of the movies above it.
No. 5 (tied). Pairs it with 'No Country' as the two Coen films with a minimum of references: spacious, awards-friendly, and missing the jittery patter of their more allusive work.
No. 5 (tied). The best-made thing they've ever done, in his view (he singles out production designer Jess Gonchor's Rothko-painting color reference), even if craft alone doesn't push it higher for him.
The one that almost made the cutSean asks each for a near-miss
Adam's near-miss, and it has risen the most for him on rewatch. Talks about screening it in New York around the Trump-era Russia dialectic, and traces that Cold War thread back to the opening voiceover of 'Blood Simple.'
Adam also sticks up for this one, citing J.K. Simmons lecturing Marlon Wayans's character about the Freedom Riders.
Chris's near-miss. Loves the Ben Hecht-style rat-a-tat dialogue and Jennifer Jason Leigh and Paul Newman, though he still struggles with Tim Robbins's performance.
Discussed as a movie people don't seem to actually rewatch anymore despite its influence; Adam calls it 'about perfect' for its time and place.
Cited as the same Cold War dialectic showing up decades later: a literal Russian-invasion plot that happened to open in the year of Trump's election.
Favorite in the Coen troupeclosing round
Adam brings up Carter Burwell's debut score for the Coens (his pick, alongside Frances McDormand, for favorite recurring collaborator) and its synth-piano motif.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Coming up The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
In passing Bridge of SpiesThe Third ManOcean's ElevenErin BrockovichTrafficBurningIntolerable CrueltyTrue Grit
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