Ethan Coen finds a new creative partner in Co-writer/Editor/Producer Tricia Cooke. The result is the playful noirish crime comedy Drive-Away Dolls.
The short answer is this, Drive-Away Dolls is an excellent piece of cinema.
There you have it.
The longer answer is not as bereft but just as much fun. Ethan Coen by teaming up with his wife, Tricia Cooke, who as much a creative force in Coen’s previous collaboration with his brother Joel (she was their Editor / Associate Editor since Fargo), the creative output is a slightly different flavor. Filled with moments that are pure-Coenesque in their execution of violence but adding components of sexuality that are as Coenesque in their execution as well but a newer wrinkle stylistically for Coen. Though none of it is without context. These moments are vital in not just setting the stage for the story but continually giving the narrative its drive.
These moments of violence and sex are what sets Jamie and Marian (played to pitch-perfection by Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan) on their road trip and the misadventures and detours it takes. However, those detours are a lot more than they bargained for in the form of blackmail, murder, a female college soccer team, an ex-girlfriend, a US Senator, and possibly of burgeoning romance.
Qualley and Viswanathan make the perfect comedic duo in the vein of other Coen’s duos. Qualley as Jamie is the showier of the two roles with her character a constant chatterbox of inane dialog done in the sweetest of Southern accents. The actress devours the role giving us a charming rapscallion of a heroine willing to go where the wind takes her. Viswanathan is no is just as charming and winning as Marian. Her quiet Marian is the perfect counterpoint to Jamie giving back as much but in a very different way. The actor has the trickier role showing a quiet charm that makes the film’s third act work as well as it does with its mixture of violence and romance.
Like Joel Coen’s austere black-and-white masterpiece MacBeth, Ethan Coen’s Drive-Away Dolls is another masterpiece of sorts. The key may be minor but it’s the same tenor as Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, and Miller’s Crossing. Drive-Away Dolls is a mini-miracle and a palette cleanser that by its end has shown us a slightly different Ethan Coen. One that’s more loosey-goosey – in the best way possible – than any Coen-directed film has been in decades.
DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS in theaters nationwide on February 23, 2024.
Ethan Coen finds a new creative partner in Co-writer/Editor/Producer Tricia Cooke. The result is the playful noirish crime comedy Drive-Away Dolls.
The short answer is this, Drive-Away Dolls is an excellent piece of cinema.
There you have it.
The longer answer is not as bereft but just as much fun. Ethan Coen by teaming up with his wife, Tricia Cooke, who as much a creative force in Coen’s previous collaboration with his brother Joel (she was their Editor / Associate Editor since Fargo), the creative output is a slightly different flavor. Filled with moments that are pure-Coenesque in their execution of violence but adding components of sexuality that are as Coenesque in their execution as well but a newer wrinkle stylistically for Coen. Though none of it is without context. These moments are vital in not just setting the stage for the story but continually giving the narrative its drive.
These moments of violence and sex are what sets Jamie and Marian (played to pitch-perfection by Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan) on their road trip and the misadventures and detours it takes. However, those detours are a lot more than they bargained for in the form of blackmail, murder, a female college soccer team, an ex-girlfriend, a US Senator, and possibly of burgeoning romance.
Qualley and Viswanathan make the perfect comedic duo in the vein of other Coen’s duos. Qualley as Jamie is the showier of the two roles with her character a constant chatterbox of inane dialog done in the sweetest of Southern accents. The actress devours the role giving us a charming rapscallion of a heroine willing to go where the wind takes her. Viswanathan is no is just as charming and winning as Marian. Her quiet Marian is the perfect counterpoint to Jamie giving back as much but in a very different way. The actor has the trickier role showing a quiet charm that makes the film’s third act work as well as it does with its mixture of violence and romance.
Like Joel Coen’s austere black-and-white masterpiece MacBeth, Ethan Coen’s Drive-Away Dolls is another masterpiece of sorts. The key may be minor but it’s the same tenor as Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, and Miller’s Crossing. Drive-Away Dolls is a mini-miracle and a palette cleanser that by its end has shown us a slightly different Ethan Coen. One that’s more loosey-goosey – in the best way possible – than any Coen-directed film has been in decades.
DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS in theaters nationwide on February 23, 2024.
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