Mythissippi

This is going to be somewhat short, since it's late, and I'm getting on toward being tired.

I just saw O Brother Where Art Thou?. I liked it, especially the music and the dance-stylings of the Soggy Bottom Boys. The inclusion of George "Baby Face" Nelson and the thinly disguised Robert Johnson were inspired touches. Some hilarious scenes, too-- I loved the bits about the frog. Scott went with me, and he enjoyed the film a lot as well. He has better taste than me, so take his word for it.

Mostly, though, the movie makes me want to re-read Howard Waldrop's A Dozen Tough Jobs. The Coen Brothers must be familiar with that book-- or else it's a startling coincidence, two re-tellings of Hellenic stories set in rural, depression-era Mississippi. Actually, I guess Tough Jobs took place a few years earlier, but still. The two are quite similar, in concept if not in execution. There's even a character in the movie named Waldrop, which could be a little homage, one of the Coen Brothers' usual wink-and-nudge grace notes... or maybe I'm just grasping at any point to support my thesis.

My initial thought on hearing about O Brother was "Why didn't they just adapt A Dozen Tough Jobs for the screen?" I think if they'd done that, it would have been a movie with a much better plot... but they wouldn't have been able to include all the music, which is in large part what this film is about. And the music is wonderful. Scott's going to get the soundtrack.

So for a real blending of the mythic and Mississippi, read the Waldrop book. For good music and funny scenes and the chance to see George Clooney get punched a lot, go see O Brother.

Heh. Poor Meg. The only Coen Brothers movie she's seen is The Big Lebowski, and she saw that with me. We're going to have ourselves a film festival when we move in together, starting with Blood Simple and watching our way through the entire Coen Brothers' filmography. That'll be fun.

I'm going to sleep. I'll dream of Big Rock Candy mountain, where's there's a lake of stew, and whiskey, too...