Raising Arizona
The Coen Brothers really are in a league of all their own.
For a team of directors who are also brothers, to be working together for as
long as they have, and to continue turning out one brilliant, original and
everlasting film after another, their success and influence over movies has
never been matched. And dare I say, never will.
I discovered their work in the 90’s, with the likes of
“Fargo” and “The Big Lebowski”, both award winning and cult films in their own
respective rights. Then in 2007, the directing duo hit it big with “No Country
for Old Men”; a much darker, more psychological turn, which gave us one of the
most chilling villains of all time with Anton Chigurh. The film was based on
Cormac McCarthy’s novel, but it takes highly skilled filmmakers to bring a much
revered novel and character to the screen so successfully. For this
accomplishment, they won their first Best Director Oscar, and rightly so.
With such a long list of films spanning four decades, I set
out to see all of them eventually. Recently, I went back to the 80’s, for one
of the brothers’ earlier films, “Raising Arizona.” A film that had been on my
list for years, because I like Nicolas Cage and everyone who had seen it raved
about it, convincing me to watch it. And watch it I did.
This film was unlike any other comedy film I’d seen before.
It was zany, off the wall, satirical, slapstick, laugh-out-loud funny and
clever. The plot is absurd, but simultaneously believable, as our heroic /
criminal couple meet in unusual circumstances, fall head over heels in love,
get hitched, but then.. discover they can’t have kids. Once a would be criminal
and a former cop, switch roles, as she tells her husband to steal a baby from a
rich local couple who’ve just had five at once. And this sets the plot in
motion.
From here, crazier characters, weirder situations and random
encounters all converge into a wonderful and whacky film that is not going to
be everyone’s cup of tea. But if you’re open to something different, where you
can emerge from the film feeling smarter than the main characters, but also
still caring deeply for them at the same time, then Raising Arizona will reward
you for your curiosity.
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