The 2nd Match

This match-up ended up being incredibly interesting and the director pairing was more similar than anticipated. All of the directors are obviously talented, and the fluency of many of the films we watched in this match was elegant and beautiful. Making the final choice was difficult, because for each side, there was an incredible film in tandem with a disappointing film with potential for excellence.

The Exorcist

I had already seen this movie from William Friedkin, but watching it again from a more critical perspective, I found it just as entrancing and horrifying. This movie is classic horror, and uses no cheap tricks to get you involved, disgusted, and scared. It's visually interesting and wonderfully shocking to see this tale of evil unfold, slowly building to its crashing peak of an ending. I had forgotten how intense the characters were from Regan's desperate mother to the psychologist priest in the midst of a crisis of faith. One aspect that is totally unforgettable is how seamlessly Regan transitions from an innocent, likable little girl into a terrifying, sick monster.

No Country for Old Men

I really enjoyed watching this movie. It was impressive and visually amazing. I found it to be beautiful, apparently full of deep meaning and symbolism, and interesting. But there was a let-down in this film. It feels as if the Coen brothers are expecting you to repeatedly watch this movie and break it down into parts in order to glean the meaning from its pieces. I really, really wanted to get what they were trying to say, but found that it didn't happen quite clearly enough. I really loved the course of the film, but was disappointed in its lack of conclusive purpose. I'm sure it was there, but if it takes more than many discussions, repeated viewings and research to get the point, then it's a little too complex for the film genre, in my opinion.

The French Connection

Ugh. I'm sorry, I understand the appeal of this movie in its potential for intrigue and complex characters, but jeez, does it have to be so boring? It was difficult to keep watching this movie, and we had to distract ourselves with multitasking to get through the whole thing. I can't tell if the extremely fake blood from the opening sequence (which seemed completely pointless) and the incredibly slow scenes in which nothing happens just can't match the quick pace of the modern movies I'm used to or if this film is lacking in the hook department, but either way, the strengths can't overcome the downfalls. The lack of development of the relationship between the two main characters, police detective partners, and the seemingly random slow camera work just make too much of a hurdle for Gene Hackman's superb acting and the brilliantly extended chase scene through Brooklyn starting with a sniper shot and ending on the stairs of an above-ground subway platform to overcome. I'm glad I never have to watch this movie again. Sorry, Mr. Friedkin.

Fargo

I had seen Fargo before this competition, and similar to the experience of re-watching The Excorcist with a keener eye, I enjoyed it as much if not more than the previous times I've watched it. The film blends comic moments with intense violence without feeling contrived. The audience falls in love with Margie, the pregnant police chief of a small Wisconsin town, and not just because of her cute, mid-western accent (dontcha know) or genuine smile, but more because of her frank, open nature and quick intelligence. Like No Country, the movie feels carefully planned, but everything fits naturally and in the end we feel the conclusive message of the film: if we can keep our focus on the truly important parts of life, we can navigate through the seemingly impossible challenges and shocking realities that it presents us with. Not everyone deals with life this way, and once they have made a choice that focuses on what is less important (money, power, pride, or a fictional version of oneself), the situation quickly snowballs into tragedy.

Clearly, the Coen bros. are the winners as I didn't feel bored while watching either of their films. Next match-up: Steven Soderberg vs. John Woo!

Exorsizing the Coen Bros.

So the second round of the Director Showdown has now just come to a close. It saw William Friedkin facing off against the Coen Brothers. We have included the brothers together as they almost always work exclusively together.

For William Friedkin we watched: The Exorcist, and The French Connection.
For the Coen Bros. we watched: No Country For Old Men, and Fargo.

The Exorcist: Obviously this film is one of the most, if not the most, important horror films of all time. It reinvents the genre from older horror films that more closely resembled gore comics of the 1950s and brought the genre more in line thematically with dramatic films of the 1970s. The characters of Reagen, her mother, and the priest who's faith is being tested are all classically memorable and work well to write the script for similar characters well into today. Thematically Friedkin makes the horror genre relevant to a mainstream audience by melding issues of religious faith and modern society. One great example of this in the film are the scenes where the priest visits his elderly mother who is slowly deteriorating in a 70s version of a nursing home. You see a clear analogy to christ walking amongst the lepers but in this version of the story the christ-like savior is unable to save anyone. His faith is tested just as the mother's love for her daughter is tested by satan himself. The film blows away all previous attempts at horror special effects and remains today a horrific spectacle.

Genre: Horror 10/10
Characters: 7/10
Mood/Theme/Ambiance: 9/10
Innovation: 9/10
Film Quality: 8/10

Total: 43/50

No Country For Old Men: This film, much like The Exorcist, will have an indelible impact on the many films like it to come. It clearly is playing thematically on the western motifs throughout the film and spends much of the film building up a standard good vs. bad cowboy storyline. Though while the initial storyline itself may seem standard in no way does the film feel stale. In fact it feels quite the opposite bending standard plot points to its will like the chase scenes between Llewelyn Moss and Anton Chigurh right down to the heroes final shootout with the bad guy which takes place completely off camera. The characters as well feel typical and expected yet extraordinarily crisp and Anton Chigurgh may well be the best Western bad guy ever created. In my opinion the film's only fault comes in its complex themes and symbolism which one is able to recognize as important but no where near able to comprehend after a single viewing. So one is left after the initial viewing without a clear ending or understanding of what the film is about but a desire to understand what was going on.

Genre: Western 9/10
Characters: 9/10
Mood/Theme/Ambiance: 10/10
Innovations: 8/10
Film quality: 5/10

Total: 41/50

The French Connection: This film is for me a big disappointment. Winning Best Picture in 1972 and vaulting Gene Hackman into mega star status, I felt this film was set to blow me away. But instead after two failed attempts at getting through this film and finally managing to make my way through it, I was instead simply left expecting more. The first problem with the film is how slow it is. It does work hard to make everything feel real and gritty but in this it fails to make important aspects of the plot stand out or connect with the audience. Its clear that it is trying to make a realistic cop drama but in its attempts to access the banality of a typical investigation it simply succeeds in accessing the bordom cops must feel on an overnight stakeout. Its two main lead characters are interesting enough. An intelligent loving French drug dealer facing off against a gritty in your face New York cop did manage to flip the script on the typical cop drama storyline but that's about all it does. It may simply be that watching the film nearly three decades after it was made means that the topical and groundbreaking aspects fall by the wayside but there's little I can do to help that. I also will never understand how it is that Gene Hackman's portrayal of a bird-dogging gritty drunk of a cop is going to get young twenty something girls into bed. It did have an awesome chase scene though. Oh and it also had a lack of an ending which was again clearly intended but left the audience wanting more.

Genre: Cop Drama 5/10
Characters: 6/10
Mood/Theme/Ambience: 5/10
Innovations: 4/10
Film Quality: 4/10

Total: 24/50

Fargo: This films stands in stark comparison to The French Connection by doing many of the things that it did right and avoiding its pit falls. It centers around the true story of a kidnapping gone wrong in small town Wisconsin. The small town cop sent to investigate blows the audience away with her brilliance and folksy ways. The film is full of characters that you will remember and quote for days and this includes one scene characters such as the two Wisconsin bimbos that Marge interviews towards the middle of the film. As the plot unfolds the audience becomes clearly aware of how the characters internal faults lead them on into more and more precarious situations until it the film climaxes in one of the most memorable body dismembering scenes of any film.

Genre: Cop Drama 8/10
Characters: 9/10
Mood/Theme/Ambience: 8/10
Innovations: 8/10
Film Quality: 8/10

Total: 41/50

The Coen Bros won out with an average score of 41 over William Friedkin's 34 average. So the Coen bros will face Milos Forman in the second round.