There is certainly a case to be made that Joel and Ethan Coen are the most consistently innovative, imaginative, and brilliant American filmmakers of the last several decades, and easily some of the greatest writers and directors of all-time. While even other brilliant artists like Quentin Tarantino and Sofia Coppola have notable inspirations that can be traced, the Coens seem to have created their own unique style of melancholic cinema. There’s a throughline of similar themes, inspirations, character archetypes, and filmmaking techniques that remain consistent throughout all their work together, but they’ve tackled films of nearly every genre. They’re unparalleled success has earned them Academy Awards, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and the respect of filmmakers everywhere.
Unfortunately, it appears that it’s unlikely that the Coen brothers will be working on any other projects together in the future, as both Joel and Ethan have directed films independent of each other since their western anthology The Ballad of Buster Scruggs was released on Netflix in 2018. While their frequent collaborator Carter Burwell initially said that the brothers “have a ton of scripts they’ve written together that are sitting on various shelves,” Ethan said that “going our own separate ways sounds like it suggests it might be final, but none of this stuff happened definitively.” Here are the best Coen brothers films of every decade.
Raising Arizona (1987)
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While the Coens’ 1984 directorial debut Blood Simple was a brilliant taste of the creativity that they could pack into a tight, low budget neo-noir thriller, Raising Arizona defined their unique style with its decidedly odd approach to sentimentality, family, love, and a strange modern update of a classic western. There’s no one better suited to their brand of humor like Nicolas Cage, who gives one of his breakout performances. Raising Arizona is also notable for being the Coens’ first collaboration with the great John Goodman, who would go on to become one of their most frequently cast actors alongside Frances McDormand and Steve Buscemi.
The Big Lebowski (1998)
It was certainly a close call determining which of the Coens’ films from the 1990s was most deserving, as they made several masterpieces throughout the decade. Fargo is often cited as their bleakest and most emotional project, Barton Fink is an unparalleled examination of anxiety, and The Hudsucker Proxy is much better than initial responses had indicated. However, The Big Lebowski is one of the funniest movies ever made, and certainly has the most growing fanbase. Jeff Bridges’ performance as The Dude ranks among the greatest film characters ever, and has even inspired his own religion.
Few movies are referenced or quoted as much as The Big Lebowski, and film scholars have found incredible ways of breaking down the hidden meanings behind certain scenes, as well as philosophical implications that make the film worth watching again. It’s also inspired some truly wild fan theories and interpretations of the baffling story and dream scenes.
No Country for Old Men (2007)
The 2000s were a period where the Coens certainly did a lot of experimenting; O Brother, Where Art Thou? became a sensation thanks to its unique soundtrack, The Man Who Wasn’t There served as their direct homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s neo-noir thrillers, Burn After Reading was the perfect encapsulation of the madness of modern espionage, and A Serious Man was their best examination of Jewish anxiety ever.
However, No Country For Old Men isn’t just the film that finally won the brothers the Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay prizes at the Oscars, but has become known as one of the best movies ever made. A cold, ruthless neo-noir revisionist western, No Country For Old Men is a brilliantly constructed thrill ride that shows the purest form of evil. It’s highly disturbing, and examines the perpetual nature of violence and how it is inherent to the American west.
Javier Bardem’s wicked turn as the assassin Anton Chirgugh ranks alongside Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight and Christoph Waltz’s Hans Lauda in Inglorious Basterds as one of the greatest movie villains of the century. While it doesn’t have any traces of the trademark humor that the Coens personify, it’s one of the most thematically rich films in recent memory, and the best adaptation of a Cormac McCarthy book ever.
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
The Coens’ last decade working together did not see the two reducing the quality of their projects in the slightest; some filmmakers seem to decline over time, but all of the films the Coens made in the 2010s were genuinely excellent. True Grit is a far better film than the 1969 adaptation of the same novel starring John Wayne, Hail, Caesar! is their best satire of the Golden Age of Hollywood, and the unique collection of stories in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs felt like a perfect swan song for their careers together.
That said, there’s no better word to describe the brothers than “artist,” and Inside Llewyn Davis is a film that shows the rigors and challenges that struggling artists face trying to “make it” in any field. Passion drives creators to risk their livelihoods, and Oscar Isaac’s breakout performance as the titular singer and songwriter within the Bob Dylan era is one of the most heartbreaking characters they’ve ever featured.
The music itself is great in its own right, as Isaac’s rendition of “Please Mr. Kennedy” alongside Justin Timberlake and Adam Driver rivals some of the performances on the soundtrack for O Brother, Where Art Thou? Isaac’s soul-crushing version of “Fare Thee Well” is simply gorgeous in how naturally it comes across.
The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)
While it's sad that there aren’t any collaborations between the two recently, Joel’s work on The Tragedy of Macbeth shows that he’s still able to show the same level of brilliance on his own. There have been many adaptations of William Shakespeare’s iconic tragedy, but the creative choice of filming the entire film as an actual stage production made the story even more haunting. Denzel Washington is brilliant in the title role, but getting McDormand to play his sinister wife took the film to a completely new level.