COEN BROTHERS FILMOGRAPHY

MILLER’S CROSSING (1990)

From the seemingly magical floating hat in its opening to the smouldering broodiness of Gabriel Byrne as noirish antihero Tom Reagan and the self deprecating over-the-topness of Albert Finney as Irish gang leader Leo — the Coens’ take on the classic gangster film is pure reinventive genius.

BARTON FINK (1991)

Only the Coens could turn the existential crises of writer’s block into a Palme D’Or-winning macabre satire of the golden age of Hollywood. Starring John Turturro and John Goodman, it’s still an underrated classic of ’90s cinema that stands out as one of the brothers’ most fully realised and darkly humorous creations.

THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998)

It’s a cult favourite and for good reason. The Coens whacky, off-beat comedy take on the films of the American New Wave produced reams of quotable dialogue, a career-defining performance from Jeff Bridges and perhaps the only musical bowling sequence in cinema history.

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007)

The Coens brought their own unique, bleakly absurd view of life to bear on Cormac McCarthy’s novel to create an adaptation that is something more than simply a bringing to screen of its source material. Javier Bardem’s ’70s haircut and deadpan delivery of a sinister monologue about coin tossing have rightly earned their place in the pantheon of cinema’s most memorable moments.

INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS (2013)

Oscar Isaac as a Bob Dylan-style, emotionally repressed, self-serving folk singer trying to survive in the ’60s club scene of Greenwich Village. Add in an adorably placid ginger-cat sidekick and stand-alone reinterpretations of the spirit of the folk music of the era and you have one of the most gently moving, intelligent films of the 21st century.