Awards Simple: The Coens and Oscar

By Steven Zeitchik

OK, we're back -- and since there aren't a whole lot of postparties, we gots nothing but time to blog (until we overdose on caffeine and/or awards coverage, which ever comes first).

First, the Coens. Our full piece is on the Hollywood Reporter Web site, but let's just poach a little from ourselves to say that the scoring of three major awards solidifies their transition from cult directors to Oscar power players. Recalling the home movies they shot as children at the Minneapolis airport, Joel Coen, upon receiving the best director prize, said, "What we do now doesn't feel that much different from what we were doing then."

Of course for moviegoers, the Coens' career began a little later -- in 1985, specifically, with "Blood Simple," the bloody chase-noir that, come to think of it, in many ways resembles "No Country."

Despite the Coens' reputation as filmmakers with a distinct, and distinctly dark, view of humanity, their career has been marked by a surprising diversity. Dramatic tales like "Miller's Crossing" have
mixed with black comedies like "Raising Arizona" and "Barton Fink," genre hybrids like "Fargo" and screwball fare like "The Big Lebowski." Scattered awards success has visited the brothers over the years, but consistent mainstream recognition has been more elusive. Most characteristic of their career have been movies like 1994's "The Hudsucker Proxy" -- acclaimed films with defined but small followings (the movie earned $3 million) and no Oscar noms.

With the wins, the Coens are decidedly mainstream players. The brothers pulled off the feat by molding a movie whose sensibility fits the times -- a story of violence and paranoia laced with themes of border, the conflict between modernity and tradition etc. -- and also by, in a sense, having the times come to them.

But don't expect a lot of change, as the brothers prep quirky projects like "The Yiddish Policemen's Union." "We're thankful to all of you out there for letting us play in our corner of the sandbox," Joel Coen said on accepting best pic. Translation: we're going to continue doing what we're doing, but with a lot more freedom. And thank you for that.