O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Having seen most of the Coen Brothers previous films I expected something different and slighty off centre. OBWAT is certainly those things, but it also has a heart as big as..well..as big as Mississippi. It is one of the most plainly enjoyable movies to have come out in recent times, intelligent, well-crafted, clever and superbly acted.

Characters are delivered in their myriad shades by a group of marvellous actors. George Clooney winning me over completely with his Clark Gable-ish looks and character. Having only ever seen him in Three Kings and his Thin Red Line cameo, I am now a fan. More comedy please George.

John Tuturro and Tim Blake Nelson ably assist, especially Nelson. If ever "The Simpsons" is made into a movie then he must be a natural to play Cletus the slack-jawed yokel. I don't think there is a performance that falls short of excellent from the entire cast. My special favorite is Stephen Root as the blind Radio Station Man.

Great old-timey music, a jiggy type dance by Clooney that I am trying to learn, and a feel of depression era southern US enhanced by sepia-like photography make this the best movie I've see so far this century. The only drawback to the film is that it has almost sent me broke buying the soundtrack, the DVD and a DVD player to play it on....it's THAT good!

The Coen Brothers have done it again. Three depression era convicts(George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson)escape a Mississippi chain gang and head off in search of buried treasure that will fund their new lives. Along the way, they sing on the radio and become much sought after stars as well as escapees. Great laughs and a soundtrack that is a lesson/introduction to bluegrass music.

Clooney is outstanding as the fast talking, quick witted Ulysses Everett McGill. Holly Hunter plays his estranged wife. Turturro and Nelson are flawless stumblebums. Also in the cast are John Goodman and Charles Durning.

Dan Tyminksi provides the singing voice for George Clooney on "I Am A Man of Constant Sorrow", the Soggy Bottom Boys song that serves as a template for the bluegrass laden soundtrack that also features Alison Krauss, Ralph Stanley, The Whites, John Hartford, The Cox Family and Gillian Welch. Toe tapping, knee slapping fun for the whole family. You'll be surprised with how relaxed and funny this movie is.

We lived through the depression and related to some of the conditions portrayed. We have watched it perhaps a dozen times. Each time we see it we pick up on something we had missed because we were still laughing at, or discussing, an earlier scene or line. The entire film was a collection of photographically great faces. We are still asking ourselves whether the entire cast were professionals or whether some were individuals found on location. The film was rich with subtle tie-ins like the children tied together with twine, as the prisoners were connected by chains. We still think the cow may have been hit unintentionally. Fords of that era had mechanical brakes. The driver of the car may not have been accustomed the longer stopping distances required. The many allusions to Ulysses Odyssey inspired us to do an inter-net search. We found a modern text version and discovered more sly references. We appreciate blue grass and country music as originally American and found it thoroughly enjoyable, along with the authentic "Go To Sleep Little Baby" and "Down from the Mountain." We were emotionally touched by this film because of our age, and find it totally entertaining every time we view it. We are still amazed that someone not of our generation could have captured the essence of that period of United States history.

This was the best film I saw in the year 2000. The Cohen brothers have never let me down before, and they certainly didn't this time either.

It's one of those rare movies these days - it's witty, intelligent and vastly entertaining. I left the cinema with a warmth in my heart. Of course, there's lot of Cohen stuff in there - odd characters and peculiar gadgets, well-developed plot and magic camerawork. But no Cohen film is resembling any other Cohen film, if you overlook the general quality of them, of course.

The big surprise for me was that Clooney is so good. But the true master performance in this movie comes from Tim Blake-Nelson. But the rest of the cast is superb too.

A film that is lightweight comedy with a musical touch that evolve it's story round rednecks and old time country music - dripping with wit and intelligence. Thats a very unlikely combination. But it's exactly what this picture is.

Those Coen brothers' movies really do grown on you. I had just seen Fargo when I rented this. It is one of the most creative, off the wall films I have ever seen. As these characters bumble their ways after a prison break, they are embraced by a series of the most unconventional personages ever to hit filmdom. And one gets turned into a frog--sort of. their flirtations with fame, the Klan, a cyclops, and all the other episodes, make this a hilarious romp. George Clooney's Ulysses is an obsessive, full speed ahead, damn the torpedoes, coupled with the charming half-wittedness of his fellow travelers, works at every level. Like Greek poetry, he is butting heads with the gods, but despite setbacks, keeps moving. It is story telling with charm and a load of bull. Everyone is some kind of philosopher, but the words come out of gap toothed, shaved headed hillbillies. And, of course, Clooney has hell to pay. I could watch this over and over again. And then there's the really cool music. I didn't even mention that!