O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Saturday, October 3)
Introduced by Phil Nussbaum, host of Bluegrass Saturday Morning, Jazz88 KBEM 88.5 FM
The Coens’ teasing titular reference to Preston Sturges’ Sullivan’s Travels—in which a director abandons a socially conscious movie in favor of pure entertainment—is a sly meditation on race, class, and friendship. O Brother was noted for its distinctive look, with saturated colors that call to mind faded photographs; for its classic American folk soundtrack; and for a hilarious, Clark Gableesque George Clooney, who, as a prison escapee looking to reunite with his wife, is the Ulysses of this odyssey. “A tribute to, and an example of, the persistent vitality of the American imagination” (New York Times). 2000, 35mm, 106 minutes.
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