Coen Brother Noir
Friday, July 29 | 8 pm
A seminal entry in the American independent film cannon, Blood Simple. launched the feature film careers of writer/directors Joel and Ethan Coen, lead actress Frances McDormand, cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld, and composer Carter Burwell. Drawing its title from a line in Dashiell Hammett’s 1929 novel Red Harvest about the mind-numbing effects of prolonged violent trauma, the film spins a shockingly brutal, ruthlessly twisted tale about a jealous husband who hires an unscrupulous private eye to follow, and then to murder, his cheating wife and her lover. Set amid the claustrophobic heat of a dusty Texas summer, this hard-boiled neo-noir prefigures the existentialist themes, fatalistic outlook, and mordant wit that cemented the Coen Brothers’ reputations as major American auteurs.
Director Joel Coen 1984 USA 99 minutes R DCP
