O Brother, Where Art Thou? | Canadian First Time Watching | Movie Reaction | Review | Commentary

Fun Fact: George Clooney sent the script and a recorder to his southern preacher grandpa to read all of his lines, so he can learn the script without reading it and also to learn the accent authentically. His grandpa started the recording with, "well George I don't know if we talk like this, but I'll give it a go." After they wrapped the movie, Ethan Coen asked him why he removed all the curse words. His grandpa had switched all the curses with "darn tootin" and other PG phrases. So his grandpa is technically one of the only people to edit a Coen brothers script. Also, I love how they make Delmar's character consistent after he gets baptized. You can tell really did believe what happened there and tried the rest of the movie to do his best.

This movie was filmed in rural Mississippi, and snakes were a constant issue on the set, so the filmmakers hired a local man who used a golf club and a bag to get rid of them. When they asked him what his job title was, he replied, "an idiot".

The most famous legend is that the blues musician Robert Johnson met the Devil at a crossroads and sold his soul in exchange for being a legendary blues musician. Considering people still play his music to this day, who knows, maybe he did.

There was an actual bank robber from this era named George "Babyface" Nelson. He died in a shootout with police, after his car broke down while escaping one of his bank heists.

Bonafide is just another way of saying someone is established and genuine.

The broken rock was mainly used on railways, the gravel ballast under the track. As well as building materials and road construction.

This soundtrack was a monster hit, folks today don't even know.

Believe it or not. Tim Blake Nelson can actually sing pretty well. He recorded some songs for the Ballad of Buster Scruggs

I always thought George Clooney, like Cary Grant, worked better as a comedic actor than a romantic lead.

It was the first digitally colour corrected film to give it a sepia-tinted look. The actual set was "greener than Ireland".

The flooding scene was Odysseus apologizing to Poseidon for mocking him and Poseidon allowing him to go home.

I was forced, against my will, to study Latin for four years in school, including translating long passages from Homer into English. I never thought it would be of any use later in life. Then this movie came out and I had the overwhelming sense that one of life's purposeful circles had been drawn to completion. Now, I'm just begging for the Coen Brothers to follow this up with The Oresteia Trilogy.

"Ain't this a geographical oddity! Two weeks from everywhere!"

Man I’m impressed with all the parallels George found to the Odyssey.

30:23 'Are there any more movies like this, that take really old stories and do a modern day adaptation?' My first thought is The Warriors (1979). A modern retelling of Anabasis by Xenophon. The text told of Greek mercenaries stranded 1,000 miles behind Persian lines trying to fight their way back home. The movie tells the story of a New York gang. The 'ultimate director’s cut' integrates a new intro to the movie that describes their plight specifically linked to the Ancient Greek story to make it clearer.

Fun fact, the woman who requests the Soggy Bottom Boys' record was Gillian Welch, an artist and singer who is featured on the soundtrack.

The title comes from Sullivan's Travels, which was a movie about a Hollywood director trying to make a move called "Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?" The movie theater scene here is a direct reference to a scene in that movie, where prisoners are allowed to see a movie.

Fun fact: the clan rally "dance" and the way the trio infiltrated is an homage to "the March of The Winkies" in Wizard of Oz when the 3 reach the Witch's castle to try and rescue Dorothy. Not everyone picks up on that but it is obvious when you compare the two.

From a mythical perspective, the theme song is perfect for this movie. The name Odysseus (aka Ulysses), literally means “bringer of pain”. He causes suffering to everyone including himself, so he’s literally a man of constant sorrow.

There are some blink and you'll miss it moments where they say characters' full names, like Menelaus Pappy O'Daniel, or Ulysses Everett McGill, to further make that Odyssey connection. Glad y'all liked it! Love this one.