Burn After Reading

So while trying to write a plot synopsis of Burn After Reading I realised that I really just shouldn't bother. Why? Well if you've seen earlier Coens like Big Lebowski or films that have influenced them like the 1941 version of The Maltese Falcon you'll know, it ain't about the plot. The plot is ultimately so tangled and pointless that to try and follow it would cause headaches. Rather Burn After Reading is about reveling in its own ridiculousness, in its own stupidity. And that's an appropriate word given the nature of the characters and events on show here.

You see no matter how smart those involved are in the making of this film, everyone in it's a bleeding moron. From the lowly gym worker to the CIA's best, no one knows anything. And it's actually this stupidity that drives the increasingly complex plot onwards. Everyone makes bad decisions because they're not smart enough to do the right thing. And the overriding feeling is confusion. It's summed up best by J.K. Simmons' top CIA man who in two scenes steals the show as the voice of the audience when he questions everything that's happened and then basically just gives up trying to work out why any of this means anything.

On other words it's typical Coens, and it's a further stride after No Country For Old Men to putting those dark rubbish years behind them. Of course this means that anyone not enamoured by the Coens' way with a story, and the emotional distance they tend to employ, won't be won over by this. Similarly any who came to them through No Country may be left scratching their heads, probably in the same way fans of Blood Simple were flummoxed by Raising Arizona. But for anyone who loves the Coens' work, and especially the more madcap comedic moments, then this is brilliant.

What was interesting about the showing I went to were how many young people were there, I'd imagine tempted by the Oceans reunion of Pitt and Clooney. And gaging their reaction to it it seems to be a film that goes down well. I was shocked as I felt that the Coens' style might not have went down well with the Disaster Movie crowd, and yet the audience I was in were laughing like mad. Like Lebowski it's a bloody hilarious film, full of over the top performances, clever dialogue and absurd situations. Plus it ends up becoming fucking dark. And then there's that cast.

The teenagers may have come for the Pitt and the Clooney, and both do a great job of subverting their images with turns that are wonderfully dumb and terribly sleazy, but they probably stayed for the cold, harsh Tilda Swinton, the incredibly aggressive John Malkovich, the best he's been in, like, forever, and Frances McDormand. Her character's no where near as lovable as that in Fargo but she brings so much to it that she's pretty much the only one you can root for. She's...adorable even when being a bitch. What's interesting is that the Coens are often criticised for not being "actor's directors" and yet they are the only ones that ever mine anything of worth from Gorgeous George. And the rest haven't been as good in anything else of late. Coupled with No Country's masterclass that's pretty impressive for guys who can't work with actors.

For those not charmed by the Coens' style of doing things, avoid as it's the Coenyist thing they've done since O Brother, Where Art Thou? If, on the other hand, you love them then you know what to expect. It's the brothers doing what they do best and doing it damn well. Hilarious, dark, confusing, absurd and, thanks to its cast, beautiful to look at Burn After Reading confirms that No Country wasn't just a blip in the downward slide but a full scale reversal. It's almost as if The Ladykillers never happened!