The Coen Brothers' Art of The Minor Character
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- Опубліковано 17 гру 2018
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With the support of Creative Europe - MEDIA Programme of the European Union.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs has cemented Joel and Ethan Coen as perhaps the most adept creators of minor characters in film. This video is a tour of the many minor characters that have populated their movies, and explores how they create such memorable characters with very little screen time.
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Last video of 2018 folks! It's been great year! Hope you all have a great holiday, I'm excited to make many more videos in 2019.
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Bernie Bernbaum (John Turturro) was in Miller's Crossing for much longer than 2 minutes and 7 seconds. He has at least five scenes, and is one of the major supporting players. You also have him credited to Barton Fink...
@@lowemckee3638 Yep. Screwed that title up, oops. The 2:07 is from Chet in Barton Fink (I must have left it uncorrected when I copied the title over). Bernie is in Miller's Crossing for about 15 minutes, and does play a fairly major role. I had him included originally as an example of how they develop his character and his impact on the story is much larger than his 15 minutes on screen. I changed the script, but left him in, probably could have found a better example for that moment.
@@ThomasFlight Thanks for the explanation, and I agree that Bernie's short screen time has a major impact as well! Overall fantastic video.
Great video, think you just need to adjust your audio mixing. Was a little hard to hear your voice over the background music.
Thomas Flight k
The stolen rug in The Big Lebowski is the best minor character in the Coens' universe. Without a single word it said, but it drove the whole story to a philosophical adventure.
You could say...it really tied the film together.
And it tied the room together.
The best example of a MacGuffin
It tied the whole movie together ;)
Should share this credit with the Lebowski car...
Yeah Well that's just like your opinion, man
Saral Koirala I see you’re not golfer.
Lol
LOL
😂👍🏻👊🏻
The Big Lebowski is a masterclass in minor characters, every character in that film is iconic.
Now if only the film itself weren't minor.
Yeah, well, that's just like, uh, your opinion, man.
@@dantean nice b8 m8
@@samarvora7185 😂😂!!
The Big Lebowski is an amazing movie
The big Lebowski doesn’t have a character I don’t rememberer
the shamus...
If you didn't remember a character you wouldn't remember that you don't remember them xD
Abso 🔔 lutely
Stfu Bradley, you’re out of your element
Bradley it’s a quote from the movie bro
Imagine a videogame where all the plot-irrelevant NPCs are scripted by the Coens.
@A Toaster Oh gods, you're right!
Just play any Rockstar game, they’re all masterpieces.
The Legend of Zelda games are another example of colorful minor characters
Carlos Freitas yes !!
You should try to play all "Trails of" game... It's one of underated JRPG, but the amount of quality that they give to creating the world and NPC is very impressive... It's seem that every NPC has their own minor story or script that changed as you progress the story...
My favorite not mentioned here is JK Simmons in Burn After Reading. He’s in only two scenes, and his utter bafflement over the film’s events makes him an audience surrogate. They’re the funniest scenes in the movie.
That's a great one!
in fact you have no clip at all from Burn After Reading...
You got that right. My favorite is Mike Yanagita from Fargo. I cringe from remembering. He's also very important to the plot
Yes!!!
@@oddballsok Watch again, he does indeed
The Coen Brothers are good at caricature, which naturally lends itself to minor characters more than major ones. Major characters need to be round and complex. Minor characters can be defined by one or two characteristics. We see this in literature going back to Dickens or maybe even further. Giving minor characters a unique hat or expression they keep repeating can make them more vivid for us than major characters. Major characters often are, paradoxically, more opaque because the image we get of them is complicated by prolonged exposure.
That's an excellent comment!
If a main character is done right, the representation is complicated, sometimes complex, at least somewhat contradictory, not fully Socratically self-aware, occasionally spontaneous in thought or action, and suggestive of a great deal of unrepresented aspects, that mysterious dark matter neither probed nor susceptible to probing. I think few real people meet these criteria. They are closer to being caricatures. The more bound to habit a person becomes, the more nearly he approaches the condition of a breathing caricature.
Really brilliant comment... Perhaps that's a major reason why I can't stand Dickens.
The minor characters really tie the films together.
This is actually very “Dickensian” of the Coen brothers. Idk if they’re avid readers or were influenced by Dickens. But in Dickens novels the minor characters were always larger than life. Often with bizarre/odd appearances, strange ways of presenting dialogue and always memorable. And also like the Coen brothers the major characters are always straight men in these abstract larger than life worlds.
Agreed; enjoyed the video and this comment by Roger Keith. I submit that creating minor characters with such success is an undertaking very different than creating major characters with success. (Both Dickens and the Coen brothers are good at both, in my view.) With such Dickensian minor characters, there is no ongoing requirement for them to fit into any ecology. Social, financial, ethical, moral, even physical eccentricities produce no friction for those characters and therefore they are without boundaries. Main characters, in contrast, are forced to work within many boundaries; as the video points out, often provided by these minor characters. Minor characters like these are free to be as wacky as desired, which is a large portion of their charm/memorability. Major characters are constrained to work within limits and that struggle is a large portion of theirs.
@@JeffThePoustman main characters have to be relatable and the charm of wacky eccentricities can get tiresome fast. plus the eccentric probably wouldn't go on an adventure in the first place
Well Dickens alone might be the most influential author in cinema's history since his books even describe types of shots that range from close-ups to establishments shots and arguably film continuity and even suspense of what you can't see behind the door, just the knob moving.
@Roger Keith: Yes, you make a good comparison. But it also highlights how the Coen Brothers, like Dickens, use these minor characters primarily as comic relief. And I mean "use" in the pejorative sense of "manipulate" and "exploit". These minor characters are not given respect as full human beings. Contrast that with Dostoevsky's use of minor characters . . .
Yes yes, indeed. It's all about "grotesque" characters.
I think a good bit of credit should be paid to their casting director, Ellen Chenoweth. One of the best in the business. Her first ever feature film was Barry Levinson's DINER. Her third film was the five time Oscar winner, TERMS OF ENDEARMENT.
I watch diner every xmas night
Casting should receive a great deal of credit in finding these actors and adding to the atmosphere. Casting teams spend months prior to a film searching for intriguing and fitting actors. Film directors choose from who casting has filtered.
@@edha4827 Tremendous young ensemble cast.
Thanks for this, I was lucky enough to play one of those roles and will say it feels like you are a bigger part of the story than a functionary or expositional bit part. I feel bad that Jerry Grayson who I met at our callback may not have lived to see his great work as Mel. He was a nice fellow he regaled me with harrowing show biz stories including the time he literally died on stage and was revived by a doctor in the house years before his actual death.
How cool is that! Just watched Inside Llewyn Davis the other week, superb movie
💗
That’s bad ass Frank
"I have my bear skin" is easily one of my favorite lines in True Grit
You are not LaBeouf...
@@doctorthirteen5727 lol I was going to write this exact thing before I found your comment. I love that weird-ass dentist.
I've been watching more Coen Movies, and I have noticed that i often look forward to seeing the next random people the main characters meet haha. Big Fan
The Coen brothers have mastered everything at this point.
I got to talk with Melissa Peterman a few years ago ("Hooker #2 at 1:39; the blond one), and mentioned her line "Go Bears!" in this scene. She related how it was one of her first roles out of college and not really knowing much about the Coens, she asked if she could ad lib the line, as she is a native Minnesotan. They agreed, and a brilliant little bit of dialogue was birthed. At least to me, those two words changed my whole perception of the character; she now became something more than a clueless sex worker- she was now an old classmate, neighbor, or the sister of a friend, and worthy of empathy. She has gone on to a pretty decent career, most notably on the sitcom "Reba".
kinda funny lookin
@@edha4827 Well, Buscemi might have been, but Melissa certainly isn't nowadays. She is in great shape, like she was when "Reba" wrapped up, and even my wife kept commenting on her knockout legs.
@@yvwic50 Yeah, I think he was just quoting her character! :)
Ha - yeah, that “Go Bears” line is awesome.
Damn I've got a lot of movies to watch tonight haha.
I finally watched all of the Coen's films while making this video (I had seen them all except The Ladykillers) and I rewatched a lot of them while making the video and they're all pretty good. I don't know which ones you've seen but here's my (highly personal) ranking in order of must-watchedness:
The Big Lebowski
O Brother Where Art Thou?
No Country for Old Men
Inside Llewyn Davis
Blood Simple
Fargo
Raising Arizona
True Grit
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Hail, Caesar!
A Serious Man
Miller's Crossing
Barton Fink
Burn After Reading
The Man Who Wasn't There
Intolerable Cruelty
The Ladykillers
Shit dude I saw Burn After Reading in a charity shop today but didn't look at it to know it was a coen brothers film, thanks for letting me know your picks! The Big Lebowski is definatly my favorite they've made that I've seen so far. then I'd probably say The Man who wasn't there, Raising Arizona, No Country for old men, Fargo, A serious man and then O Brother Where Art Thou?. and I loved them all! I just think because of the characters feeling so real, which movie you rate high depends on what characters you like the most or feel you understand more.
@Patrick Farrell I did leave Hudsucker out oops. I'd put it just above Barton Fink and below Miller's Crossing.
@@ThomasFlight That's an interesting and unusual ranking. Mine would be something like this:
1. Fargo (1996)
2. Barton Fink (1991)
3. No Country for Old Men (2007)
4. The Big Lebowski (1998)
5. A Serious Man (2009)
6. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
7. Miller's Crossing (1990)
8. Raising Arizona (1987)
9. The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
10. Burn After Reading (2008)
11. Blood Simple (1984)
12. True Grit (2010)
13. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
14. Hail, Caesar! (2016)
15. The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
16. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
17. Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
18. The Ladykillers (2004)
@@ThomasFlight I'd put 'Barton Fink', 'Fargo', 'No Country for Old Men', 'Miller's Crossing' and 'A Serious Man' in the top tier.
'O Brother Where Art Thou?' as a runner-up? Should be further down the list, with the likes of the so-so Coen flicks like 'Intorelable Cruelty', 'Burn After Reading', 'The Man who wasn't There' or 'The Ladykillers'.
And I've always found 'The Big Lebowski' hugely overrated and never as impactful as 'Barton Fink' or 'Fargo' - these two are Coen Brothers at their finest in depicting the madness and loneliness of a man's obsession, with such memorable scenes as the box on the beach next to Barton echoed by the snow buried bag of money in 'Fargo', both of which are preceded by the hat blown in the wind in the opening titles scene of the 'Miller's Crossing'.
Minor character not even seen: Ed's co-worker in "Raising Arizona," constantly reminding her of what to do--even on her wedding day. "Don't forget your bouquet, Ed!"
Oddly enough, this is something I enjoy about the show Bob's Burgers. Minor characters are often a larger part of the story.
It is our most modestly priced receptacle
GAWDDAMMIT!!!
All those minor characters and you missed the store clerk in Raising Arizona: "Do these balloons blow up into funny shapes, at all?" "No, unless round is funny." The same actor appeared uncredited as a store clerk in O Brother.
I noticed that almost all of their films have an oddball storekeeper or clerk.
That line and "Son, you got a panty on your head"...just thinking of them makes me giggle.
Fargo: The father in law
Lebowski: Bunny, the carpet pissers, Maude's giggling friend, the private eye in the VW
Burn After Reading: The Seattle morning television show hosts
" I'm a Dapper-Dan man! "
First off, Damn John Goodman is only in O'Brother for 4 minutes. It felt longer.
Also Stephen Root's character in No Country Old Man has a name, its "The Man Who Hires Welles".
These minor characters feel like they could have their own movies. The Coen brothers are genius.
Damn! Thank you for helping me understand this concept of featuring minor characters. I didn't understand why I liked their films so well, but I knew that they were saturated with interesting things.
The Coen Brothers consistence on making good movie is literally legendary.
Thanks for the essay. I am unabashedly a Cohen Bros. fan, and enjoying seeing essays about their work. Their films are rich with detail and layers of fantastic story telling. They never fail to amuse and entertain.
My two favorites are from The Big Lebowski. Manny’s performance art always makes me laugh. And then Knox Harrington, played by the great David Thewlis, just giggles for most of his only scene.
All time favorite Coen Bros. "minor" character is Stephen Root's blind radio host in O' Brother Where Art Thou.
Stephen Root also portrayed a minor character in season 1 of Fargo.
Exceptional! Absolutely love Joel and Ethan's work and all the talented folks that bring it to life. Thank you. And, thank you Thomas, love your analysis and your channel.
Another Incredible Analysis! There should be a Compilation somewhere of just their Minor Characters, that'd be Incredible to See!
Excellent video, this makes me want to rewatch some of their early work to better appreciate the characters I didn't remember. Well researched and edited, man!
Your observations on the Coen brothers' minor characters cleared up a nagging question for me: why was my memory replaying small parts of their movies as much or more than the major parts? Of course, it was because of he Coen's incredibly artful use of minor characters. Excellent video. Thank you.
Wonderful.
Their side-characters are often almost Shakepsearean, in a way. The discussion and the scene at 3:43 reminded me of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern in Hamlet.
I've never noticed it before. This explains why all of these movies are so memorable to me.
Don't know much about film makers. Judging by the job they did on the re-make of True Grit, which I was not initially interested in seeing, they know what they're doing. It was a pleasant surprise to see what a good job they did with it.
I really appreciate your work, Thomas. The Bohemian Rhapsody video was the first one that popped up in my feed, this is the third one I’ve watched so far. You’ve earned a new subscriber, please keep up the good work.
I guess yardstick of well-written character is that are they able to support a story of their own. It does not have to be a feature-length film. In great story every character (does something visible or/and has at least one line of dialogue) could be a story worth telling.
This was a really useful analysis. Thanks Thomas. It's helped me clarify some ideas in my writing.
That was wonderful, many thanks. Where would cinema be without sublime supporting actors, even in so-called 'bit parts'.
I enjoyed this so much I immediately watched it again. I love the Coen Bro's. Your insights will make me watch their movies (and others) with an eye that is a little more refined.
I love all Coen films! They are by far my favourite writers!
This is a BRILLIANT video! Excellent interpretation of one aspect of the Coen Brothers successes.
Cheers
THANK YOU! my favorite characters are typically done by character actors in small roles. or even characters with one line in bad movies like that Bill Burr topic on his podcast.
Students of literature are taught about "round" (main) and "flat" (minor) characters, but the Coen brothers upend the theory and manage to do so by not giving the minor characters much screen time. Their minor characters are more like "fast rounds," one might say.
No Country for Old Men is a masterclass in subtlety, buddy.
Thank you so much for your videos. They are extremely well-done and very informative.
Amazing job as always dude. Thanks a lot.
Coen Brothers make all of my favourite movies. I love everything they do, with The Big Lebowski being my favourite of all time. And I loved The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs. Good video.
I think what makes these characters so memorable is they are designed to steal whatever scene they are in. It seems the best lines of dialogue are often reserved for them. There isn't one of the Coen brothers movies that I can recall without a great line or two being delivered by someone with only a fleeting appearance in the movie.
I have my bear skin.
It was so interesting to consider how much screen time each character got. For each one I recognized I could have sworn it was longer than you said. That's just how memorable they are.
i really enjoy these videos, thanks for making them
Excellent video essay, thank you!
Every character in Raising Arizona is solid gold.
work's what's kept us happy
What are you talking about Glen?
Great little breakdown! Nice job.
Yes, I've noticed this. But you did not mention my fave, the bind DJ in O Brother Where Art Thou?
Really well done, very insightful 👏🏼
Thanks for such a great short film. I agree with every word you said.
Awesome video , thank you for answering silent questions about the cohens
I absolutely love all of Coens minor characters. Giving them just enough flavor so that they aren't distracting but stand out.
Really well done and well articulated video. Insta-fan of your work
Great review for the Coen brothers. Now I'm going to go watch every single one of those movies.
Cohen brothers are genius-level filmmakers. No Country for Old men sold me on that. Not sure about True Grit thou. But a Serious Man and Fargo cement their style.
This entire video is a serotonin boost
love your video, keep doing great
U have a good structure in your videos. Keep it up!
Thanks!
Bro, that cop in that scene from The Big Lebowski ( @ 5:34 ) was on a whole another level !
From Reddit! Solid video. Now Ill rewatch all their films.
Loved your “post”! I subscribed, thanks.
Just like the Coen Brothers haven’t missed a beat in film, I’ve gotta say your UA-cam channel continues to be hit after hit after hit, Thomas!
Thanks!
Great vid, well done!
I really enjoyed listening to you. Great vid!
This was a really lovely doc, almost elegiac. But their films are mesmerising & fascinating and their minor characters resemble the plethora of different shaped creatures under a particularly productive sea-weeded rock at furthest extent of an ebbing tide; a whole and complete universe of life all bumping into each other. // Thks !!
This video was unbelievably good.
Excellent video!
My new favourite channel ❤️
Loved this - thank you for assembling all of these great characters together. Drop Johnson, man. Especially in the hat. Do have to refute that Blood Simple was devoid of memorable minor characters, though: the landlady and her (former) brother-in-law Mr Garcia, Holly Hunter as Helene Trend on Meurice's voicemail, even Meurice himself is pretty minor yet has memorable mannerisms such as footwork on the bar and geeking out about volcano eruptions
Yeah, I discussed this with another commenter that I definitely overlooked a few in Blood Simple. None of them are as extreme, but they're definitely there.
see old steakhouse waitress from Hell or High Water.
establish tactics, history, hopes, and fears - but for side characters they provide the main plot new information, they need to be dynamic, but rememberability helps.
Quirkiness through entrance, details, culture, or ticks can only help make them stand out.
jay folk No surprise there. I consider Hell or High Water “No Country-lite”. (I love HoHW by the way.)
Fantastic Example. She has always stuck with me, so too have the old timers sat by the door
great video! haven't seen many coen brothers movie (my mistake) so i didn't quite point this out, it's something that i want to learn, making a characters interesting visually or personality wise even with less than a minute of screen time!
Love this video! Subscribed!!!
Great job. Thank you.
Great analysis. Actually, I was just telling a friend about this characteristic of the Coen Brothers, not only with their small characters but with characters in general, they do give each of them elements that keep you interested to the story, even when the story might not be that interesting to you. I think Wes Anderson does the same. Ohh, and I just checked MUBI and wow, very interesting cinema selection, I might give it a try. Thanks.
The morning news casters in Burn After Reading. Amazing stuff. All the characters in that movie are incredible. What about the janitor that finds the "Russian intelligence" in the bathroom? "It was just lying there"
Excellent essay! I thought of Dickens too. I work in animation and the brothers think in terms of caricature much like we do.
My aim is to emulate the Coen Bros but in an Australian setting. So many possibilities. Thanks for the inspiration.
That was really good.
The "ear bending co-worker" from Raising Arizona has stayed in my head since I first saw the movie as a kid.
Gosh, I love love love this vid. Add this on the list of reason why to love the coens. I feel like this skill of the minor character is also applicable to my other fav filmmakers like PTA Lynch and Kubrick but the coens do it the best
Wait, where’s the Big Lebowski’s taxi driver? Da Fino is also a great minor character.
Love the Coen brothers 💕
I hate the f***ing Eagles man...
They always find great ways to use that Irish monk! Shout out to Jon Polito big time.
Easily my favorite directors. Period.
Amazing theme and video altogether
Nice catch.
very cool. great examination. thanks
Bernie Bernbaum is a major character in Miller’s Crossing. He’s on screen a hell of a lot longer than 2 minutes.
It is our most moderately priced receptical.
Just because we’re bereaved doesn’t make us saps!!!!
Perfectly said....Thank you for this...
Brilliant stuff
I was expecting to see Michael Lerner as Lipnik in Barton Fink. One of my favorite minor characters.
I love how every character in a Coen brothers movie can have a movie of it's own.
Another good one.
I’d contend that John Hughes preceded the Coen brothers in this regard in a very big way. Do a video over the side characters from his films.
We might also consider the genius of the French auteur, Jaques Tati.