Opening the 2008 Venice Film Festival, Burn After Reading marked the Coens’ return to raucous black comedy. With its story of a scheme gone awry, the film is replete with espionage, infidelity, and Internet dating. With Frances McDormand, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, John Malkovich, and Brad Pitt, who does a surprising comic turn as a dim-witted personal trainer caught in the cross fire. 2008, 35mm, 96 minutes.
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