O Brother, Where Art Thou (2000) Retro Review

Well,

hello everyone and welcome to Movie

Goodness where we examine life through cinema here on the KB Radio Network.

I am your host,

Kevin Reed,

and today we're going back in time.

We're going historical today here on an episode of Movie Goodness,

and we're going historical because there's something in the future that awaits us.

and that is christopher nolan's the odyssey and anticipation of this film because i'm a a greek mythology nut you know i'm reading that in school and yes reading this is probably one of the only things i read in high school i'm

pretty sure we all learned about the odyssey that was like part of the curriculum in school the odyssey

And

I don't know why,

out of all the things that were taught in my four years of high school,

that this sticks out to me.

I don't remember anything else about high school.

Nothing else that was taught to me stuck with me more than the Odyssey.

Maybe because it took a whole semester to get through it.

Maybe that was it.

Or it was just the allure of it all.

Me being a big...

comic book fan a big comic book nut who just loved everything comic books uh superheroes and the stories behind it it's it's very methodical you know and to be in school and being

taught about this this greek lore you know it it felt like a comic book story to me and i just resonated with it more and to the point where

I actually read,

I actually read the story as much as I could around that time because the

Odyssey is something,

it's more of a mini-series than it is just one book.

It's a lot in the Odyssey and I don't remember a lot.

Actually,

I've forgotten more than I remember.

It's been so long since high school.

But

I do remember the,

you know,

the core of everything and the characters and what significance they play in the story.

That's why when this movie was announced,

I was excited.

But,

oh,

my God,

what hyped me up beyond hype was Christopher Nolan.

I mean,

Christopher Nolan is this generation's.

Who can I compare him to?

I don't want to say Spielberg because Spielberg is still making movies.

Not to the level that he did back in the

70s and 80s and 90s as well.

But he hasn't been knocking it out of the park.

Disclosure Day,

which I felt was a real good film,

but it wasn't a

Spielberg film.

You know,

a Spielberg film is something of an event.

You know,

when you think back to Jurassic Park and the Indiana Jones movies and Jaws and,

you know,

things of that nature.

They were a...

vent now he just makes good movies and that's that's kind of a step down for him it just feels like a step down that he's making basic movies but i say all that to say that spielberg is my favorite director that's that's my childhood he basically raised me you

know the the first movies i remember watching were et and close encounters and all that and and and uh raiders of the lost art.

So on.

And not to mention the movies he produced.

But

I'm going on a long tangent about Spielberg.

But the point I'm trying to get at is Christopher Nolan.

Just like

Spielberg was a major part of my childhood and why I consider him one of my favorites.

Nolan

I consider one of my favorites because he's a big part of my adulthood.

All his movies are deeply...

deeply enjoy and love one i don't just one and it's not that i don't enjoy the movie because i've seen it multiple times it just doesn't have the same christopher nolan flair and that is tenant and

there's a lot of intangibles that go into tenant number one didn't understand what that story was didn't understand i couldn't follow that movie that's probably why i watched it multiple times.

to try to get it now granted every time i watch it i do notice something different

But nothing to really get it to the level where I'm like,

man,

yeah,

this is one of his hidden genius movies.

No.

But the rest of his movies,

my God.

Just a couple of years ago with Oppenheimer where he finally won Best Director.

And that wasn't even his Best Directed Film in my humble opinion.

But it was excellently made.

Like all of his movies.

The Dark Knight Trilogy were great.

My favorite film from here is

Inception.

Inception is so perfect in my mind.

Of a film that is a science fiction action film,

but it doesn't feel like a science fiction action film.

At least that's not the core of that movie,

the basis of that movie.

It's deeper than that.

It's such a good movie.

oh my god it's such a good movie and interstellar and so on and so forth he he is a major part of my adulthood and i love all of his movies whenever his name is attached to a film count

me in i'm there i'm all i'm there no matter what it's about and it was a lot of speculation going into what is his next move after arpenheimer what is the film that he's gonna make

to follow up his oscar-winning directorial effort and finally it was announced that it's the odyssey and my mind just blew up because christopher nolan is the most grounded filmmaker

you ever want him despite the fact he make these fantastical films like like an inception where you're hijacking somebody's dreams and going in and

the reality is warped and buildings are folding up on top of each other and stuff that's really a grounded movie you know interstellar we're going into space and going through black holes and going on planets where seconds counts as minutes

or hours or years i forgot the the time frame how it went there but it was fantastical yet yet grounded you know

the batman films he made the dark knight trilogy is a comic book character where you have characters such as joker and scarecrow and bane and and raza ghul and all these characters in

this batman trilogy but it's grounded realistic the dark knight is the most realistic comic book movie i've ever scene.

that's one comic book movie i can sit back and say yeah that can really happen that that's a real life thing because we've all met some jokers hey we've all met those crazy people who just want to see the

the world burn you know they have no motive that is their motive just to destroy seek and destroy and so him being so grounded how will he make a film

or adapt a material that has cyclops and sirens and uh gods and you know all going to hell or hades and talking to the dead and all this other stuff how is he gonna make something as fantastical as the odyssey and that's the most uh compelling part about going to see this film i

can't wait

I honestly can't wait.

And so over the past few months,

I was kind of scratching my head as to,

should I go back and try to,

you know,

get caught up on my Odyssey knowledge?

You know,

maybe find a YouTube video or two to kind of give a little backstory on the Odyssey or just go to the movie and be refreshed that way.

Well,

I started watching a video.

it is long as is i don't know what because they go through every aspect of the odyssey but i got about

10 minutes into it and i said you know what i'm gonna wait for the movie i'm not i'm not i don't want to go into it judging it you know there are people already losing their minds because helen of troy is black in

the movie you know portrayed by the great uh lapida of niyango and

They're not speaking Greek.

You know,

everybody's speaking in an English accent and stuff like that.

People are losing their minds over that.

come on man it's time to get off of that i mean really pete why are people tripping over dumb stuff it shouldn't just be in the case of lapita niyango playing helen of troy shouldn't it be just the best actress for the role it shouldn't have to come down well she's not white she's

not uh as beautiful number one lapita niyango is beautiful she may not be a beautiful to you

But she is a beautiful woman to many people who look at her.

And so let that go.

And the person you may have in mind for it may not be beautiful to me.

You know,

they could have picked somebody better than that.

You know,

everybody's taste is different.

It's all subjective,

you know.

So let it go.

Just let it go.

But there's already so much.

foolishness surrounding it

I didn't want to go into it and judging it off oh that's not accurate

Icarus didn't do this or no that's not what was written you know and stuff

I want to see Christopher Nolan's version and so what I will do today we're just going to get kind of a refresher for those of you who just want a refresher because just like me

it's been well over 30 something years uh since i learned this in high school so i just want a little refresher and in honor since this is movie goodness and we do talk movies here i'm

gonna review a film that is loosely and i mean loosely based on homer's odyssey it is the 2000 film from the coen brothers

Starring George Clooney.

Oh brother.

Where art thou?

And now a lot of people.

I know a lot of people don't even realize.

That that was an adaptation.

Of the Odyssey.

But it was.

Loosely.

Loose.

I mean.

Loose as loose can get.

But yet so close to it.

You know.

You can follow that and know that.

Okay I know precisely.

what their interpretation is here what they're what they're interpreting from the odyssey in this movie and it is night and day this is a pure comedy but we're going to review that in honor of everything

odyssey odyssey yeah they had other adaptations they had a mini series that came on television i think in the

90s with amanda santi if i'm not mistaken and i think a 1950

50s film based on it and all this i think we watched that one in school that was that was kirk douglas if i'm not mistaken i think he was icarus i could be wrong or ulysses i mean not i keep

saying icarus but ulysses but why review those just basic interpretations and go against the grain with old brother where art thou and so we'll do that at the end

But before we do that,

let's go over the Odyssey.

And I just,

I'm not going to go about the story and the plot and all this here.

Really don't want to spoil anything.

And in case you didn't read it in high school,

maybe it was just down here.

I don't know.

But in the event that you don't want to be spoiled,

you don't want to know anything about the Odyssey and blah,

You know,

I'm not going to go into all of that,

you know,

save that for the film.

that comes out or or you can read the actual literature from homer and but anywho's the odyssey it is uh one of two major uh epics of

ancient greek literature that's that stands here that they can actually date back there are two of them and they both were contributed by homer the other is all the dead or you

oil it did i can never pronounce it but basically that tells the story of troy uh that 10-year battle uh that includes the trojan horse and all this other good stuff and so that that was like the prequel to the odyssey if you will or

the odyssey is the sequel to that story but those are the two oldest surviving works of literature uh known to man uh the odyssey was divided into you

24 books so it wasn't just one graphic novel of of the story of of ulysses

track back home after the trojan war it is it was divided into 24 books that's why it took an entire semester in high school to go through and it follows uh ulysses he's the king and

this is his uh homecoming journey after the trojan war that 10 year long war and that journey from Troy back home.

He is tested.

He goes through another

I don't know,

many trials,

I should say,

for another 10 years.

So it was 20 years since he's been home.

And during that time,

he had to encounter,

what,

the Cyclops.

He had to encounter the Sirens.

He had to encounter

Greek gods like

Athena and

Poseidon. And so many,

so much he had to go through in order to get back home.

Meanwhile,

you have his wife,

Penelope,

and their son.

They're back at home,

and after 20 years,

they pretty much assumed he was dead.

And you got a bunch of suitors who are in the home all vying for

Penelope's hand in marriage.

And the whole kick there,

the little thing there,

she had to choose a suitor.

But she...

finally believed that her husband was still alive and he's coming home and so the deal was she was sewing this this i don't know quilt or whatever and when she finished sewing it that's when she's

going to uh pick one of the suitors so she drugged this on for many years by she so during the day and during the night when everybody's asleep she undoes what she's

done so she would never finish and so that was the whole the whole kick with that then you had the story of the son and he's going on his own journey to try to find his father even though he

barely knows his father because he's been gone for 20 years uh but this this story this story by homer they they really don't have a date

on when it actually came to be.

A lot of historians have different dates.

Some believe it was the

8th century BC,

7th century BC,

or mid-6th century BC when this was actually composed.

But it came a part of

Greek literature canon around that time.

But there was also another change around that time.

You notice I called him Uh,

udisys but it changed over time well you know with interpretations and everything it changed from udisys to odisys and so i believe they calling them odisys in the nolan film so we'll we'll rock with the odisys but

another note in my little research i found out that scholars they're divided on whether any of the places though

Odysseus visited was actually real some believe they were real some believe that some of these events were true yes added with a little flair uh but it that this journey was actual truth you know he probably didn't encounter you know cyclopses and all that but who knows who knows you know we read the bible those of us who are believers and

we we believe Eve.

that there's a lot of fantastical stuff that took place and so hey who's to say that no fantastical stuff took place here and quite honestly if you are a bible reader you know that there were giants in the bible you know they were uh uh what

they called them oh man i'm getting myself in trouble here because i was supposed to know this but they're Dragons?

They're,

they're,

what,

what do you call the ones with the angels?

The angels had made it with humans and yeah,

they,

they're giants,

but they,

they go by another name.

I don't know why it's escaping me right now,

but anyways,

who's to say one wasn't a cyclops who said one didn't have an,

only one eye.

So,

you know,

maybe,

maybe

I'm of the belief that is possible.

And I consider myself a man of faith.

I mean,

after all,

this took place centuries,

and we're talking five,

six hundred years before the birth of Jesus.

And so anything could have happened.

This is this is round new

Old Testament territory where you had you had burning bushes and men with the power of the Hulk in their hair and all this other stuff.

I mean,

hey,

who knows?

Who knows?

But any who's that's besides the point.

but that's basically the gist of Odyssey and what,

what,

what significance it was back then.

And it's amazing to see thousands of years later that is still relevant.

I mean,

my God,

just think about it.

Have you recently went to a movie,

watched a movie left out of the.

theater and forgot everything about that movie you know it's hard it's hard to make something or write something even read a book have you ever read a book recently that just didn't appeal to you and you forgot everything about it and

you was on to the next one just think of writing something so significant that close to what

I think

i'm not even about to count i don't think my math math that that high but thousands of years later and we're still intrigued by this piece of literature and to the point where we had multiple multiple adaptations of it uh

on film television and on stage you know with operas and stage plays and things of that nature it's just one of the greatest piece of

literature in human history and i can't wait to see what christopher nolan does with this property but before we get christopher nolan's adaptation of the odyssey why

don't we get the cohen brothers interpretation of the odyssey that joel and ethan cohen who around the year 2000 and before that we We were getting...

this is during the era of peak and i mean peak coen brothers around this time we're getting fargo uh uh old brother where art thou the

big lebrowski i mean they were firing on all cylinders and to be completely honest with you their whole filmography is nothing but banger after banger after banger

going all the way back to 1984 with blood simple and then giving us raisin arizona with nicholas cage oh my god i love that movie to this day uh barton fink and uh miller's crossing and then you get um uh no country for old men and true grit and they were just giving us

they were doing god's work i'll just put it plainly like that unbelievable filmmakers i think recently they've split up they've gone in separate ways and making their own thing and none of them are as interesting as they were when they were working together it's something like the saffy brothers but

it's it's worse with the coens because they they know each other you know they they're brothers of course and they they get each other

and they get each other and make it work i think one of their bad films around this area and i say bad loosely is the hutt sucker proxy and i think that's in a very misunderstood movie just like when the big lebrowski came out that was misunderstood it was it was not a hit nobody

liked it nobody thought it was funny i watched it the first time i watched it i i'm I'm pretty sure I urinated,

but I'm.

pissed myself laughing at that movie from beginning to end and i still do to this day but another movie that does that to me is the 2000 satiric comedy drama musical old

brother where art thou which is loosely based on the odyssey and uh in this film you have george Clooney,

John Totero.

Tim Blake Nelson,

John Goodman,

Holly Hunter,

who they worked with on Raisin Arizona as well.

But a lot of these actors they work with repeatedly.

they all get each other but in this film it follows three escaped convicts searching for hidden treasure while the sheriff relentlessly pursues them it's a story of a modern satire which incorporates

social features in the american south around that era and it is of course loosely based on the odyssey uh the main character is named uh ulysses

uh which is the roman name for odysseus and the title of the film is a reference to a 1941 movie entitled uh sullivan's travels which the protagonist is a director who wants to make

a film called old brother where art thou oddly enough and that was based on a uh fictional book about the great depression but this movie features

uh folk music and uh dad i just i've never gotten into i i've never even listened to a folk song before this movie i didn't know anything about bluegrass i didn't know nothing about all that and

so watching this movie was kind of weird you know because i'm like this ain't my bag musically but it became my bag it's it

It was that good.

Now,

that's not to say that I listen to folk music.

I think after I watched the movie,

that was it for me.

It worked for the movie.

But nothing to make me say,

man,

I got to go get some folk

CDs and all this.

Nah,

that wasn't happening.

But,

man,

I love this movie.

I rewatched it in preparation for this show.

And,

bruh,

that was the best two hours of my life.

I could not have enjoyed because I didn't realize it has been so long since I watched the movie.

I've seen it since the year 2000,

but

I haven't seen it.

Like it doesn't pop up on television that often.

It doesn't pop up on streaming services that often.

It's just one of those lost gems,

I guess you could say.

At least in my case,

I watched this movie.

and it felt like the first time i laughed so hard throughout this movie and to put that in perspective for you all i don't do that i don't i don't it takes a it takes a special type of movie to

make me laugh out loud now i've i've seen a lot of funny funny movies i laugh but not like you know it's more of an internal thing like oh that was funny

you know i'll give a little chuckle or something but i'm talking bursting out annoying laugh if you were sitting next to me i'll be like knee slapping laugh or falling out of your chair funny type moment it's only a few films that have done that two of which were coin butters films it was this one and

the big lebowski uh the big lebowski is probably funnier to me because that's

more of my type of humor that but it's this movie was funny without intent george clooney in this film is the best i've ever seen george clooney i'm not a george clooney guy i'm not like clamoring for george clooney in movies uh

probably because he he destroyed one of my favorite characters of all time that being batman and in batman and robin which i don't give him all the blame for but

my god it was horrible uh i've just never been a george clooney guy now i watch his movies you know the oceans films were good i watched all of them you know uh that's about that's about it for me you know i just feel he's george

clooney in every movie i never really uh sense that he changes it up now every now and then he will but the movie doesn't really

snatch me like that so i i don't give him you know the flowers he deserved for switching it up but this movie my god you want to talk about switching it up george clooney i don't think he's ever been that funny in his life this is so funny and

he's a funny guy you know if you've seen him in interviews and stuff like that he's a charming funny guy and this was a different kind of funny to me because...

His character is so...

over the top just just silly dumb he's that he was that type of character that uh or a person you may know i'm more than certain you know a person like uh uh ulysses everybody

knows a ulysses who thinks he's the smartest person in the room but really is the dumbest person in the room but you you you're captured by the charm and the

Elegant way that they speak that for a split second you believe that oh they know what they talked about oh this guy is really intelligent but when you really sit back and listen to what they're saying oh

he's an idiot you know everybody knows that person I know several people like that several think they're the smartest person in the room but

don't know barely know how to tie the shoes but ulysses is that character he he is you know because this is set in rural mississippi and uh i forgot what year it's set in but uh

during the jim crow era well before that but uh real real dirty south era of mississippi and

Everybody talks with that Mississippi slang,

which they all do great.

And I know Mississippi accents.

My mom,

dad,

uncles,

and my whole family is Mississippi bred and born.

So I know a Mississippi accent when I hear it.

And these actors do it.

Yes,

they do add a little over-the-topness because every actor or whoever thinks that everybody talks like

they have a mouth full of uh grass or whatever mud in their mouth or something they got to put that extra little swang through it you know and but we don't they don't talk like that i never did because i was born in louisiana so i had a different out of all my siblings i think i'm the only one to

be born in louisiana everybody else my brothers my sisters my dad my uncles and all all of them were born in mississippi except for me i'm the you

I'm the black sheep.

But people say I got a slang,

and

I don't think I do.

I do when

I know certain words I try to pronounce.

It's hard for it to come out.

And I know that's the Mississippi in me that's fighting against the city boy in me.

You know?

And it comes out real bad.

If you listen to the show enough,

y'all know what.

y'all know what i'm talking about if you listen to this show long enough you probably know what i'm talking about here but anyways uh yeah i love george clooney this is my favorite george clooney out of all of his films so funny so

charming it's everything that george clooney was built up to be and it was in this stupid comedy you know based off of one of one of the world's oldest literatures uh

the chemistry between george clooney and uh john taturo and tim blake nelson was spot on perfect i love their chemistry i i love the three though i was deeply impressed with tim blake nelson in this film because up

to that point i i didn't know who he was i didn't see him in anything else up prior to this and so when he popped up in this i'm like who's this guy i've seen john taturo and

in a million things i know george clooney but who's this guy you know and he held his arm with all of them he he held his own and we all know who tim blake nelson is now of course uh 26 years later but in 2000 i didn't know and he he was awesome he

was awesome john tutoro is awesome and everything.

John Goodman as this

He was basically the Cyclops of the story because he had the eye patch.

Big Dan was his name.

But he was a Bible salesman,

or at least he was masquerading as a

Bible salesman here.

And basically one of the most racist people ever in the Ku Klux Klan.

Ku Klux Klan had a major part in this story,

which is odd to say this is a movie that I...

a door.

but they get their comeuppance of course uh but it it is it is uh a great performance from john goodman whenever he's in the coen brothers films he he knocks it out the part my favorite part about

the big lebowski what makes it such a classic to me what makes it makes it such a a beloved film to me is john goodman in that movie he he stole the movie

he was so good in the big lebowski oh my god and in this film as well uh him being this this slick oil salesman and uh basically a con man the way he conned our

main characters in this movie our protagonist it was was was just brilliant you know to say he wasn't in the film long i think what two maybe three scenes and they weren't

big scenes but he uh made the most of the time that he was on camera uh holly hunter is is another joy to watch on this uh on this film her playing her

playing the wife of george crooney in this movie and when he finally gets back to her and they're talking about she's talking about her new fiance.

that's gonna uh take care of her and they're 15 girls they have together i forgot how many girls it is but uh and she kept the way she just and this is coen brothers signature

you know them writing this line or writing this comedy whereas they kind of repeat themselves over and over but it works within this the the telling of the story of the scene uh

just repeatedly calling this man bonafide he's bonafide and when george clutie talks to his daughters and she's like oh well you still gonna be my dad well is is such and such still gonna be my dad too and he's like no well well mama says he's bonafide and the other girls are like yeah he's bonafide it

is just this it ran on so long and like in other movies that would be like okay you're wearing this out

okay it's too much but not in this movie because of the timing and perfectly placed dialogue and performances by these actresses it it was perfect man it was absolutely perfect uh love that section of the film love the section of the the

fact that what saved them was going and hustling this blind radio guy.

telling him that they're black performers at first and he's like oh well we don't really deal with color folk and all this here and he's like oh no we just said that so that's when we get the

song from the Soggy Bottom Boys and it was a banger too and that basically came back to save them at the end of the movie Thank you.

Because the song had got so popular,

and they end up getting pardoned.

And it was,

I'm telling you,

one of the best Coen Brothers films out of all the films,

in my humble opinion.

Yes,

the best is

No Country for Old Men.

That will never change.

I'm not crazy.

That movie was excellent.

Excellent.

But

you gotta put this movie up there you gotta put uh raisin arizona up there i'll be they have a filmography that any filmmaker wish hope and pray they could actually have at the end of the day but

this was perfectly cast perfectly directed perfectly written i think uh visually is outstanding of course the great roger deakins was the cinematographer on this film

I have zero complaints about this movie.

There are no flaws that I can point out in this film.

Is this something you pop on to teach your kids or youngins you know about the Odyssey to give them a crash course in that literature?

Absolutely not.

That is not going to help them in the least bit.

But if you want to sit them down and show them that.

this is the way movies were made they don't make movies like this anymore this is uh something of a classic i wouldn't even call it a cult classic this is a actual classic uh everything about this movie works uh and

after watching it 26 years after its release it still holds up to this day It doesn't feel dated in no shape,

form,

or...

fashion oh brother where art thou gets a letter grade of an a plus yes it is a perfect movie in my humble opinion but that's just my opinion are you excited

for the odyssey if it's not the odyssey are you just plain excited for a christopher nolan film it's funny how we got to the point where it's not.

Tom Cruise starring that gets you excited or uh Arnold Schwarzenegger film that gets you excited or a

Keanu Reeves film that gets you excited anymore it's the director you know it's it's oh Spielberg made this because even though uh Disclosure Day was a little disappointing at the box office initially everybody was excited because it was Spielberg

not because emily blunt or uh uh wyatt russell or anybody was in it no it's because spielberg made the movie and so on and so forth you know who who was the biggest star to come out of obsession you know outside of the actress who played nikki i

think they talk about curry barker more than they talk about her you know they talk about the director more you know they're talking about

Kane

what's his last name who made uh back rooms they talk about him more they don't talk about uh uh true or worse as of edge before they talk about the director of that movie more it's more of the director that people are excited that's the star and

when you say christopher nolan film that's that's like okay i'm going because honestly think about it who cared about oppenheimer i mean who care.

I'm talking about that person.

the person as a whole who wants to sit at a three-hour biofilm about oppenheimer nobody i didn't but you put christopher nolan name on it oh i'm going to see it which i did so

and that's it's just funny how we have transitioned as an audience now you know what what brings us into the movie theaters and i'm excited to see how

he interprets this property uh is he still going to be that grounded guy and not really go super fantastical i know it's going to be in a realistic way you know you go by the trailers it look it still have that realistic feel you

know it doesn't look magical or anything like that but man i'm excited i'm just excited i can't wait and this is the part that scares me because with this must

excitement will i be let down it's very possible but i'm willing to take that chance but i want to know your thoughts going forward people are you excited for the odyssey uh do you remember reading the odyssey in in high

school and everything like me or was it just me i think i thought everybody read that in high school but i did talk to one person who said No,

we never did.

And it blew my mind.

So let me know.

I would love to hear from you.

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and sharing this show if you're listening on apple podcast spotify iheart radio wherever you are currently listening to movie goodness here on the kb radio network everybody thank you for joining me as we prepared

for the odyssey and reviewed the coin brothers film from the year 2000 oh brother where art thou everybody i want you all to know that i love you continue to love

everyone and until we speak again you all be blessed

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