Review: O Brother Where Art Thou?
Trevor Gensch
complete slackjawed idiots, escape from the chain gang with the
promise of uncovering a buried treasure and making their fortune.
So begins an adventure with black fortune tellers, bible bashers
(literally), religious cults, the KKK and infamous bank robbers, as
our three chaps head across the great state of Mississipi in search of
the money.
O Brother Where Art Thou? is a fascinating and funny romp that is
guaranteed to entertain. Despite what some reviews state, it is not a
ritious funfest from beginning to end, but does include enough to keep
you interested.
The movie employs a technique that seems to be becoming standard with
movies these days - the film grade alteration. Like 'The Matrix' and
'Three Kings', 'O Brother Where Art Thou' employs the technique to
give the majority of the shots a very washed out 'old photo' type of
look. Also many shots pick out one colour in particular and
accentuate it against the other drab colours (the cornfield shots
spring to mind as the most striking example).
The result is very striking (if a little disorientating), and give the
film a very unique and authentic look.
Our three leads are quite good - especially Clooney and his great
sense of comic timing and copious amounts of hair gel.
Many of the weird and wonderful people the convicts meet along the way
are pretty superflous to the plot (the Governor only seems to have
been included for one reason only). But they're fun to watch.
And if you have seen the preview trailer - the last big scene I had
almost forgotten about until I heard the sound starting to rumble from
out of the speakers. Then you realise - yeah, they haven't done that
from the trailer yet, have they? You will know when you see it.
Word of warning though, this is another movie where the filmmakers
seem to have an obsession with a certain animal. A recent parallel to
this obsession occurred in Me, Myself and Irene. I will leave it at
that.
Worth seeing for the grading effect alone - 'O Brother Where Art Thou'
is worth a solid 7 out of 10.
--
Trev.
"I thought that having my own web page was pretty cool, until I
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