Burn After Reading by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen the auteurs of such classics as Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Blood Simple, reviewed on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/maybe-you-have-some-ideas-click-on-link.html - 9 out of 10

 

Burn After Reading by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen the auteurs of such classics as Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Blood Simple, reviewed on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/maybe-you-have-some-ideas-click-on-link.html

 

9 out of 10

 

In an interview aired some years ago, Joel and Ethan Coen talk about their first film https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/blood-simple-by-joel-and-ethan-coen.html Bood Simple, with Frances McDormand, married to Joel Coen, in the leading role of the wife that is abused by her husband

 

The budget was so tiny that they could not afford any extra expense, indeed, this was a fantastic achievement, with very little spending – there is memorable scene – well, actually so many – in which this body has to be taken out of the car, taken to a field, but a truck is coming on the road, from the opposite direction

Because they could not film this many times, or a few, coming down to one take and that is it on the little money, they had to draw the scene – which is done – but very careful to all the details, so that they could get it right the first time, the result is a spectacular motion picture, and even more remarkable for being a debut

 

Just like Sex, Lies and Videotape https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/sex-lies-and-videotape.html launched the career of another giant, Steven Soderbergh, as a first, phenomenal creation, maybe I imagine it, but I see it winning the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or, albeit it could just be a projection, and changing one ward for another

 

-          In my mind

 

John Malkovich is Osborne Cox, a CIA operative or analyst, and he gets fired, to his astonishment, chagrin and eventually a degree of madness, he wants to write about his work, experiences and he starts recording some ideas, then forgets precious information on a disk, at the gym, where he works out, if I remember well

This is where Linda Litzke aka Frances McDormand – winner of 4 Oscars, one for for Fargo https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/fargo-by-ethan-and-joel-coen.html - and Chad Feldheimer aka Brad Pitt work, and they find the secrets – actually, somebody else does, but somehow they see here an opportunity

 

For blackmail

 

Nevertheless, Chad is really silly, Linda has more gumption, though she is out of her league, and some of her initiatives are hilarious – this is a good comedy and a spoiler alert would be in order here, that is, if anyone is still listening in – she takes her material to the…Russian Embassy, when the effort to have a deal made fails

Meanwhile, Katie Cox is married to the CIA man – this is Tilda Swinton, for some strange reason, I have an allergy to her, that is I cannot watch her acting, unless it is something like the marvelous Killer – and has an affair with Harry Pfarrer who is played by an unbelievably gauche George Clooney, he fails utterly from one point on

 

A nadir would be the moment when Chad enters this place, thinking he can get an advantage, but Harry is there, and the poor idiot (Chad) gets killed, accidentally, as he was hiding in a closet and he shocks the unexpecting, philandering Harry – the latter puts ads on the net, and he meets with Linda, also interested in sex

Ted is portrayed by wonderful Richard Jenkins, he is the boss at the gym, infatuated with Linda, only she does not reciprocate, it is a Comedy of Errors…

 

This is not on the level of

 

-          No Country For Old Men

 

After all, such marvels https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/no-country-for-old-men-by-cormac.html are rare to find

 

Everything in No Country for Ald Men is outstanding, this is one of my Top 100 Movies, but especially memorable is the performance of Javier Bardem

The scene with the coin toss, when he walks into this gas station, and tells the owner to make a guess on the result

 

The old man is not really into it, wondering what this is all about, the audience knows however what this lunatic has been doing

Curt, Anton Chigurh that is fantastic Javier Bardem, with such a remarkable haircut, presence air, mimic, you name it says:

-          You have everything to gain from this

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/maybe-you-have-some-ideas-click-on-link.html – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’