In the 30-plus years since Blood Simple, it’s arguable that no other filmmakers have had a streak quite like Joel and Ethan Coen. With masterpieces throughout their career, and a few as recent as Inside Llewyn Davis and A Serious Man, this year Hail, Caesar! proved that they haven’t lost their touch. As we await and see what they may be taking on next, Viceland have delivered an excellent documentary on their career through the eyes of some of their closet collaborators.
Featuring interviews with George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, John Turturro, Carter Burwell, Alex Karpovsky, critic Scott Tobias, and more, it’s a chronological step through their immaculate filmography. From their debut (which Clooney calls “a very, very f*cked-up movie”) to Fargo (“If you head towards serious, and then go farther past serious, it becomes funny again,” Burwell notes) to The Big Lebowski (Bridges says there was no improvisation; every “dude” and “man” was perfectly placed) and far beyond, it’s a fascinating watch.
Check it out below for a limited time and if you have a cable subscription with Viceland, you can see episodes on David Fincher, Todd Haynes, Kelly Reichardt, Werner Herzog, Quentin Tarantino, and more, here.
Hail, Caesar! lands on Blu-ray next week and a restored Blood Simple screens from July 1 to 14 at Film Forum.