A costo di subire gli strali dei più, lo dico: i
fratelli Coen sono radical-chic da paura e terribilmente sopravvalutati.
No scherzo, dai: è
ovvio che sono io che non capisco e sono un bruto incolto... ma che vi devo dire?
Fargo aveva un passo insostenibile,
No Country for Old Men era di certo pregevole (ma quanti erano i meriti del testo originale, della fotografia e di
Bardem? E comunque a mio avviso
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead ed
Eastern Promises sono su un altro pianeta).
Passando alla commedia,
O Brother, Where Art Thou? era un piccolo gioiello, lo ammetto, mentre il tanto osannato
The Big Lebowski mi ha lasciato perplesso: certo, ottimi personaggi, ma se dovessi adesso - a distanza di mesi dalla visione - fare un sunto della trama, sarei in serio imbarazzo.
Se il grosso dei film finora citati non mi ha esaltato (o mi è al più piaciucchiato), il vero fondo è stato toccato con
Burn After Reading.
Una trama risibile (del tutto sconclusionata e priva di verosimiglianza) e dialoghi fiacchi finiscono per affondare tutto il film - comprese le buone prove attoriali, prima fra tutte quella di
Brad Pitt deficiente da antologia purtroppo poco e mal sfruttato.
Qualcuno ha parlato di messaggio dirompente e di fine critica sociale; il messaggio che è arrivato a me è: "che culo che abbiamo ad essere così ben visti nei
salotti buoni, che possiamo permetterci di campare qualunque vaccata noi si sforni..."
Un analista della CIA viene licenziato in tronco, inizia a scrivere le sue memorie di fuoco sull'agenzia, ma il CD con la bozza del testo - niente che abbia il minimo interesse, comunque - viene smarrito in una palestra dove alcuni cerebrolesi lo trovano e sperano di poterlo utilizzare come strumento di ricatto.
Nel mentre, tutti scopano tutti per scacciare i fantasmi delle rispettive crisi di mezz'età (oh, sì: proprio dirompente e radical-chic), ma in fondo in fondo sono dei bambinoni immaturi. La CIA si limita a pulire lo sporco più evidente.
Intrecci di vicende e corpi privi di senso, poche battute degne di una risatina a denti stretti e molte stupidaggini da "oh cavoli, ho proprio finito le idee, e adesso cosa facciamo capitare?" (il coinvolgimento dei russi, soprattutto).
Come è giusto che sia, tutto finirà in niente.
Poi intendiamoci: tra le numerose coppie di fratelli che tanto male hanno fatto al cinema, sono sicuramente tra i meno peggio, ma da qui ad osannarli ce ne passa.
Voto: 4.5. Cosa abbiamo imparato da Burn After Reading? Davvero niente...
Tags: commedia, crimine, satira, CIA, agenzia, spionaggio, deficienti, palestra, intervento, chirurgia estetica, omicidio, pistola, agente, sicurezza, morte, ricatto, memorie, libro, licenziamento, analista, divorzio, tradimento, sesso, incontro, anima gemella, allenamento, moglie, marito, George Clooney, John Malkovich, fratelli Coen, Brad Pitt, spia, ipod, estorsione, minaccia, pedinamento, delusione, noia.
Pitt, Brad
Nome di battesimo: Pitt, William Bradley
Data di nascita: 18 December 1963
Altezza: 5' 11½" (1.82 m)
Coniuge: Jennifer Aniston::(29 July 2000 - 2 October 2005) (divorced)
Ultimi lavori: Biografia:Brad Pitt was born in Oklahoma and raised in Springfield, Missouri. His mother's name is Jane Etta Hillhouse. His father, William (Bill) Pitt, worked in management at a trucking firm in Springfield. He has a younger brother, Douglas (Doug) Pitt and a younger sister Julie Neal Pitt. At Kickapoo High School, Pitt was involved in sports, debating, student government and school musicals. Pitt attended the University of Missouri, where he majored in journalism with a focus on advertising. He occasionally acted in fraternity shows. He left college two credits short of graduating to move to California. Before he became successful at acting, Pitt supported himself by driving strippers in limos, moving refrigerators and dressing as a giant chicken while working for "el Pollo Loco."
Trivia random: Ranked #32 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]
Citazione random: I'm gonna design my own fleet of trailers. No! I'm gonna record an album like Jennifer Lopez. It'll be an acoustic version of KC & The Sunshine Band. Then maybe I'll design a line of clothes like [Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs] but all in synthetic fur.
Salario massimo: $30,000,000 ($10m salary + backend participations), per Ocean's Eleven (2001)
Filmography links and data courtesy of IMDb.
Coen, Ethan
Data di nascita: 21 September 1957
Altezza: 5' 8" (1.73 m)
Coniuge: Tricia Cooke::(2 October 1993 - present)
Ultimi lavori: Trivia random: Frequently includes kidnapping-plots in his films.
Citazione random: It's easy to offend people. People get uncomfortable, for instance, when the main character in a movie is not sympathetic in a Hollywood formula way. Our movies are loaded with things that aren't to everyone's taste. On the other hand, there's a scene in [O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)] where a frog gets squished that everyone seems to like. It's all right to do the frog squishing.
Filmography links and data courtesy of IMDb.
Fargo (1996)
Regista: Joel Coen Scrittore: Joel Coen,
Ethan Coen Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller, Crime
Valutazione: 8.3/10 (128214 voti) [#115 nella top250]
Durata: 98 min
Paese: USA
Lingua: English
Cast:Trama:Fargo is based on true events that occurred in Minnesota in 1987 with the names changed to protect the victims. Jerry works in his father-in-law's car dealership and has gotten himself in financial problems. He tries various schemes to come up with money needed for a reason that is never really explained. It has to be assumed that his huge embezzlement of money from the dealership is about to be discovered by father-in-law. When all else falls through, plans he set in motion earlier for two men to kidnap his wife for ransom to be paid by her wealthy father (who doesn't seem to have the time of day for son-in-law). From the moment of the kidnapping, things go wrong and what was supposed to be a non-violent affair turns bloody with more blood added by the minute. Jerry is upset at the blood shed, which turns loose a pregnant sheriff from MN who is tenacious in attempting to solve the three murders in her jurisdiction.
Trivia random: SPOILER: A total of 7 people were killed (Wade Gustafson, Jean Lundegaard, Carl Showalter, the state trooper the 2 passers-by,and the toll patrol)
Citazione random: Carl Showalter: [irately, over the phone] Alright, Jerry, I'm through fuckin' around. You got the fuckin' money?::Jerry Lundegaard: Yeah, I got the money, but... uh...::Carl Showalter: Don't you fuckin' fuck me, Jerry. I want you to get this money to the Dayton Radisson, top level, in 30 minutes, Jerry, we wrap this thing up.::Jerry Lundegaard: Yeah, but...::Carl Showalter: Hey, you're there in 30 minutes, Jerry, or I find you, Jerry, and I shoot you and I shoot your fuckin' wife and I shoot all your fuckin' children and I shoot them all in the back of their little fuckin' heads; you got it?::Jerry Lundegaard: Okay, now you stay away from Scotty, now.
Filmography links and data courtesy of IMDb.
Coen, Joel
Nome di battesimo: Coen, Joel Daniel
Data di nascita: 29 November 1954
Altezza: 6' (1.83 m)
Coniuge: Frances McDormand::(1984 - present) 1 child
Ultimi lavori: Trivia random: When an actor improvises a line on the set, he will almost invariably say something like, "That was great, but could you do it like it's written in the script?" Most Coen brothers films are the same (line for line) when released as they are on the page in the final draft of the script.
Citazione random: [Ethan Coen] had a nightmare of one day finding me on the set of something like The Incredible Hulk (2008), wearing a gold chain and saying, "I've got to eat, don't I?"
Filmography links and data courtesy of IMDb.
Burn After Reading (2008)
Burn after reading - A prova di spia
Regista: Ethan Coen,
Joel Coen Scrittore: Joel Coen,
Ethan Coen Genere: Comedy, Crime, Comedy
Valutazione: 7.9/10 (10424 voti)
Durata: Canada:96::(Toronto International Film Festival) min
Paese: USA, UK, France
Lingua: English
Cast:Trama:A disk containing the memoirs of a CIA agent ends up in the hands of two unscrupulous gym employees who attempt to sell it.
Trivia random: Director Trademark: [Joel Coen] [kubrick] The sound emitted by the homing scanner from Bowman's space pod in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is heard in the opening titles. Harry Pfarrer's house number is 114, a nod to Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964).
Citazione random: Osborne Cox: Give me the CD!::Chad Feldheimer: As soon as you give us the money, dickwad!
Filmography links and data courtesy of IMDb.
Bardem, Javier
Nome di battesimo: Bardem, Javier Ángel Encinas
Data di nascita: 1 March 1969
Altezza: 6' (1.83 m)
Ultimi lavori: Biografia:Javier Bardem is the youngest member of a family of actors that has been making films since the early days of Spanish cinema.He got his start in the family business at age six when he appeared in his first feature, "El Pícaro" (The Scoundrel). During his teenage years he acted in several TV series, played rugby for theSpanish National Team, and toured the country with an independent theatrical group. Javier's early film role as a sexy stud in the black comedy_Jamón, jamón (1992)_ (Ham Ham) propelled him to instant popularity and threatened to typecast him as nothing morethan a brawny sex symbol. Determined to avert a beefcake image, he refused similar subsequent roles and has gone on to win acclaim for his ability to appear almost unrecognizable from film to film. With over 25 movies and numerous awards under his belt, it is Javier's stirring, passionate performance as the persecuted Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas in Before Night Falls (2000) that will longbe remembered as his breakthrough role. He received five Best Actor awards and a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his portrayal of a strong-willed man who survived censorship, imprisonment, and homosexual intolerance for the privilege to write freely, only to commit suicide at age 47 in New York, ending a battle with AIDS.
Trivia random: Says in interviews that he doesn't know how to drive.
Citazione random: I truly consider myself non-sexy, which is fine for me. I don't have any problem with that. Sometimes I would like to have Brad Pitt's body. But that's not something that obsesses me in a real way. And second, I truly believe that what I would like to portray on-screen or on stage are human beings, and human beings usually are not as handsome as movie stars. But most times being handsome on-screen or being handsome for real life, has to do much more with your vanity and your profound need to be liked by the rest of the people, be loved by the rest of the people.
Filmography links and data courtesy of IMDb.
Big Lebowski, The (1998)
Grande Lebowski, Il
Regista: Joel Coen Scrittore: Ethan Coen,
Joel Coen Genere: Comedy, Crime, Mystery, Comedy
Valutazione: 8.2/10 (129265 voti) [#152 nella top250]
Durata: 117 min
Paese: USA, UK
Lingua: English, German, Hebrew, Spanish
Cast:Trama:When "The Dude" Lebowski is mistaken for a millionaire Lebowski, two thugs urinate on his rug to coerce him into paying a debt he knows nothing about. While attempting to gain recompense for the ruined rug from his wealthy counterpart, he accepts a one-time job with high pay-off. He enlists the help of his bowling buddy, Walter, a gun-toting Jewish-convert with anger issues. Deception leads to more trouble, and it soon seems that everyone from porn empire tycoons to nihilists want something from The Dude.
Trivia random: The lawyers that the dude mentions, are both real attorneys. Kuntsler, who died in 1995, was a self proclaimed radical lawyer. In 1983, he took on Ron Kuby, another radical lawyer, as a junior partner. Their claim to fame mainly came from defending numerous controversial defendants including suspected terrorist leaders and the daughter of Malcolm X.
Citazione random: The Dude: Uh, and then, uh, the music business, briefly.::Maude Lebowski: Oh?::The Dude: Yeah. Roadie for Metallica::Maude Lebowski: Oh.::The Dude: Speed of Sound Tour::Maude Lebowski: Mm-hmm.::The Dude: Bunch of assholes.
Filmography links and data courtesy of IMDb.
Brother, Where Art Thou?, O (2000)
Fratello, dove sei?
Regista: Joel Coen Scrittore: Homer,
Ethan Coen Genere: Comedy, Adventure, Crime, Music, Comedy
Valutazione: 7.8/10 (74509 voti)
Durata: 107 min
Paese: UK, France, USA
Lingua: English
Cast:Trama:Loosely based on Homer's 'Odyssey' the movie deals with the grotesque adventures of Everett Ulysses McGill and his companions Delmar and Pete in 1930s Mississipi. Sprung from a chain gang and trying to reach Everetts home to recover the buried loot of a bank heist they are confronted by a series of strange characters. Among them sirens, a cyclops, bankrobber George 'Babyface' Nelson (very annoyed by that nickname), a campaigning Governor, his opponent, a KKK lynch mob, and a blind prophet, who warns the trio that "the treasure you seek shall not be the treasure you find."
Trivia random: Stephen Root, who plays the radio station owner, also played a radio station owner in the TV show "NewsRadio" (1995).
Citazione random: Penny Wharvey McGill: Vernon here's got a job. Vernon's got prospects. He's bona fide. What are you?
Filmography links and data courtesy of IMDb. 
1 commento:
Sono d'accordo con te su moltissimo della recensione, e oltre modo trovo limpido e saccente il tuo blog.
Ma permettimi di dissentire semplicemente sulla svalutazione che cè dell'analisi altrochè banale della mezza età (o cmq dell'età adulta in genere) attraverso un ritorno all'adolescenza più primitiva e del fattore, a mio avviso preponderante che è quello del caso nella vita. Gli avvenimenti non devono avere un senso al di fuori della catena di eventi che li costituisce.
Chiaramente siamo lontani dai giorni aurei per la coppia di fratelli, che si avvalgono oggi di una sceneggiatura certamente forzata e poco credibile.
Ma è anche vero che Pirandello fu accusato per il suo il Fu Mattia Pascal di inverosimiglianza.
Ecco, non è su questo che ho inquadrato la mia analisi al film.
E concludendo trovo molto significativa la frase di chiusura
"
-Cosa abbiamo imparato con questa storia?
-Assolutamente niente..."
il sunto preciso ed impeccabile delle storie di vita quotidiana che a volte si chiudono in maniera tragica.
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