Confessions of a Coen brothers fan
Hail Caesar! Is one
of the Coen’s satirical masterpieces?
This is definitely a film for film buffs who know their
American screen history.
If you know your film history then it’s a giggle all the way
through. There are so many "in house " gags, it is difficult to keep up.
From the parody of the sequences from North by North West,
the gay rendition parody of ‘Nothing Like a Dame’ from South Pacific, Mickey
Spillain film noir, the naughtiness goes on and on.
For me, the by funniest parody was of Busby Berkley’s
sequences. Busby’s girls didn’t ever do
the contortions that were filmed by the Coen’s and the digital wizardry of
fantastical water displays culminates in a mermaid, with attitude, diving into
the centre of the display, it was hilarious. A truly fantastic visual joke.
Underneath it all was the Coen’s dialectic of communism
versus Christianity so prevalent in the nineteen fifties and the McCarthy
trials. Convincing and sensitive with humour thrown in.
This is the sort of film that would delight the film greats.
A film with narrative, a conscience stricken dilemma, visual art and underneath
a clever message, questioned Hollywood ethics.
This is very similar to the satirical eyeglass of a Stoppard play.
A must see.
Zoe Ainsworth-Grigg
