Coen Brothers Reaction Shots Discussion Topic

Hello you wonderful movie lovers!  Here is the discussion topic for the next episode of Reaction Shots about the Coen Brothers!

The Coen Brothers are among the most beloved living filmmakers, having dipped their toes into almost every genre (or is 'Coen Brothers' its own genre by now?) over the course of their 17 feature films.  Let's talk about  them and their work!

Example films (surprise, it's all of their movies!): Blood Simple.; Raising Arizona; Miller's Crossing; Barton Fink; The Hudsucker Proxy; Fargo; The Big Lebowski; O Brother, Where Art Thou?; The Man Who Wasn't There; Intolerable Cruelty; The Ladykillers; No Country for Old Men; Burn After Reading; A Serious Man; True Grit; Inside Llewyn Davis; Hail, Caesar!

How many of the Coen Brothers' films would you classify as Noir?

Are all of the Coen Brothers' films comedies?  If not which ones aren't?

Fargo takes place in Minnesota and North Dakota.  The Coens are from up in those parts, how often does the setting play a major role, almost a character unto itself, in their films?

Which is your favorite Coen Brothers film?  Which is your least favorite?  Why?

The Coen Brothers venture into many different time periods, are they always successful in this?  If so, why?  If not, why not?

Why is it so hard to classify a Coen Brothers film into one genre?

Let's talk about Roderick Jaynes, and the editing in Coen Brothers films.

The Coens have collaborated with cinematographer Roger Deakins on 12 films (Barton Fink,The Hudsucker Proxy, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Man Who Wasn't There, Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers, No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man, True Grit and Hail, Caesar!)  Is there some ineffable quality that Deakins brings to these films?  Do the few he is not on feel like they're missing something?

Do Coen Brothers films have a shared filmic language?  (Visuals, acting styles, writing, audio)

Do Coen Brothers films have a shared theme?  (Nihilism, humanism, myth, etc.)

Coen Brothers movies have a tendency to subvert expectations, whether it is sudden character deaths, anti-climaxes, plot twists, or unusual story structure, their films often work outside common filmic devices.  Can they/do they still surprise us, or has their own Coen-Brothers-Esque-ness become too powerful for even the Coen Brothers to transcend? 

This list of frequent collaborators is interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_frequent_Coen_Brothers_collaborators

Do you think there is any issue with reusing actors or other collaborators in multiple films?

Frances McDormand is great.