Directed by Joel Coen • 1990 • United States
Starring John Turturro, Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney
A Roaring Twenties gangster saga that only the Coen brothers could concoct, MILLER’S CROSSING marries the hard-boiled sensibility of classic noir fiction with the filmmakers’ trademark savory dialogue, colorful characters, and finely calibrated set pieces. Gabriel Byrne brings a wry gravitas to the role of Tom Reagan, the quick-thinking right-hand man to a powerful crime boss (Albert Finney). Tom’s unflappable cool is tested when he begins offering his services to a rival outfit—setting off a cascade of betrayals, reprisals, and increasingly berserk violence. The Hopperesque visuals of cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld, majestically elegiac score by Carter Burwell, and vivid supporting performances from John Turturro and Marcia Gay Harden come together in a slice of pulp perfection that crackles with sardonic wit while plumbing existential questions about free will and our own terrifying capacity for evil.
Up Next in The Coen Brothers
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Barton Fink
Directed by Joel Coen • 1991 • United States
Starring John Turturro, John Goodman, Judy DavisThe Coen brothers’ darkly surreal journey through 1940s Hollywood casts John Turturro as the titular, Clifford Odets–esque New York playwright who moves to LA to work as a screenwriter for Capitol Pictu...
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A Serious Man
Directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen • 2009 • United States
Starring Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred MelamedThe Coen brothers’ acerbic, anxiety-inducing portrait of a man in crisis features a sensational performance from Michael Stuhlbarg as a 1960s Jewish physics professor at a Minnesota...
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True Grit
Directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen • 2010 • United States
Starring Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld, Josh BrolinOriginally filmed in 1969 as a John Wayne vehicle, Charles Portis’s classic western novel gets a truer, grittier adaptation courtesy of the Coen brothers. Jeff Bridges is marvelously ...
