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in
I made a promise to you, @seanc, and finally finished the films. Has @rauldc14 finished? I don't know. Maybe I left him behind; left him thinking we were in this together. But I went on without him. Went on to finish it; like sean. Maybe, yes maybe I double-crossed somebody in this mess. Maybe.......
Miller's Crossing
The Coen’s did it again... and with that I mean they double-crossed, triple-crossed, or maybe even quadruple-crossed me like no one else can. I'm totally in when it comes to their movies, but when I watch them, they don't exactly let me in on it. I got to find my own way through their stories, while someone keeps a gun to my head, because I’m not exactly given much time to make up my mind before a new guy points another gun at my face and I’m starting all over. It’s exciting, it’s exhausting, but I do love it. I also know one thing, and that is the fact that the Coen’s rarely ever click with me on first watch. Even my favorite movie of all time, I had to watch at least twice or maybe three times, before it truly resonated with me. Finishing a Coen film, I always feel like I have witnessed something special, but I’m not sure what or why that is exactly.
Therefore, I was also hesitant to honor your wishes, sean, about looking extra much into that “hat thing” you mentioned… I had actually forgotten about your request, until the very opening credit scene, showing the title and a hat that blows into the distance. I think, whether you had mentioned it or not, I had probably kept an eye on it, because it seemed certain that something was going to be going on about that.
Anyways, I reckon you have watched this movie more than once, so you are really putting me up for a task here, when you want me to decipher a Coen feature after only one, late night viewing. But I’ll give it my best. I haven’t read up on anything at all in relation to this, so this is just what I got out of it myself. To me, the hat seemed to represent truth or some kind of honesty, loyalty, authority or dedication – I’m not sure I’m finding the right word here, but at least it’s in and around this theme. The hat often came into play, when our main character Tom was genuine and honest to the people he counselled or conversed with. It seemed to come off, every time he was either a liar, disloyal or doing something he shouldn’t do against those that respected him or trusted in him.
There’s an early example, where Tom “leaves” his hat with Verna – or rather he “bets it” or “sells it off” to someone else – in this case, a woman who is actually in a relationship with his own boss. He comes to get it back, get back his loyalty with Leo and with the world he’s in, saying he only wants “his hat back”, but ends up spending the night with her. Another example, perfectly linked to this situation, is when he tells his boss, Leo, that he sleeps with his girlfriend. Tom gets beat up, his hat falls off and ends up “crooked” on the floor, showing us that Tom’s been a “crooked right hand man”, so to speak, and they see him for who he really is...
Throughout the movie you can notice that the hat goes on and off whenever Tom has something genuine to say or do, for the people who trust in him, and whenever he speaks lies and can’t be trusted. It's like a mask or a persona. This creates some nice foreshadowing and excitement throughout, which was quite interesting to me. The ending is probably the most ambiguous, as it should be, so hats off to that. To me, it seemed like they ended on a “friendly” or at least “agreeable note” by having Tom put on his hat as he sees Leo walk away putting his hat on as well. It could mean something about respect, mutual agreements, mutual work fields, or maybe that Tom will always be in this, even if he says he’s out. Something along those lines at least.
- Or perhaps he put on the hat "in service" of himself or who he served last and actually wants to finish the job and kill Leo? Who knows, I mean it's not impossible. His look was a bit "off" in the end shot, as seen in the gif image below... Whatever the answer, the ambiguity is great enough to throw us off slightly, which means the Coen's succeeded all the way to the end.
And for the movie itself, I had a good time with it. I think my second watch will be better, because while the plot is interesting the story can be very confusing, with a lot of names, situations and plotlines that sometimes gets you confused, until you sort of find your footing again a little later, only to lose it yet again. But even for the “heavy plot”, the movie seemed light on its toes even so and I don’t doubt that the Coen’s had control over their movie at every point – the question is how much control they wanted to assign their audience. And a side-note, that Sam Raimi cameo though! Had to look it up to see if it was really him
And my favorite scene was definitely the assassination attempt. Slicker than The Godfather and cooler than Scarface! I was so pumped in that scene, it just oozed with style, substance and a cool factor that called for its presence all around every corner of cinema – cinematography, sound design, acting, directing etc. Can’t remember the exact quote, but one of his men said “Leo’s still an artist with a tommy gun” Damn straight, and the Coen’s are still artists with a camera…
I actually wanted to give the movie that full four- star rating right off the bat, but yet again I must confess I’d rather be wowed even more on a second watch, than perhaps feel less about it. So a gentle rating yet again here from me…
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The Coen’s did it again... and with that I mean they double-crossed, triple-crossed, or maybe even quadruple-crossed me like no one else can. I'm totally in when it comes to their movies, but when I watch them, they don't exactly let me in on it. I got to find my own way through their stories, while someone keeps a gun to my head, because I’m not exactly given much time to make up my mind before a new guy points another gun at my face and I’m starting all over. It’s exciting, it’s exhausting, but I do love it. I also know one thing, and that is the fact that the Coen’s rarely ever click with me on first watch. Even my favorite movie of all time, I had to watch at least twice or maybe three times, before it truly resonated with me. Finishing a Coen film, I always feel like I have witnessed something special, but I’m not sure what or why that is exactly.
Therefore, I was also hesitant to honor your wishes, sean, about looking extra much into that “hat thing” you mentioned… I had actually forgotten about your request, until the very opening credit scene, showing the title and a hat that blows into the distance. I think, whether you had mentioned it or not, I had probably kept an eye on it, because it seemed certain that something was going to be going on about that.
Anyways, I reckon you have watched this movie more than once, so you are really putting me up for a task here, when you want me to decipher a Coen feature after only one, late night viewing. But I’ll give it my best. I haven’t read up on anything at all in relation to this, so this is just what I got out of it myself. To me, the hat seemed to represent truth or some kind of honesty, loyalty, authority or dedication – I’m not sure I’m finding the right word here, but at least it’s in and around this theme. The hat often came into play, when our main character Tom was genuine and honest to the people he counselled or conversed with. It seemed to come off, every time he was either a liar, disloyal or doing something he shouldn’t do against those that respected him or trusted in him.
There’s an early example, where Tom “leaves” his hat with Verna – or rather he “bets it” or “sells it off” to someone else – in this case, a woman who is actually in a relationship with his own boss. He comes to get it back, get back his loyalty with Leo and with the world he’s in, saying he only wants “his hat back”, but ends up spending the night with her. Another example, perfectly linked to this situation, is when he tells his boss, Leo, that he sleeps with his girlfriend. Tom gets beat up, his hat falls off and ends up “crooked” on the floor, showing us that Tom’s been a “crooked right hand man”, so to speak, and they see him for who he really is...
Throughout the movie you can notice that the hat goes on and off whenever Tom has something genuine to say or do, for the people who trust in him, and whenever he speaks lies and can’t be trusted. It's like a mask or a persona. This creates some nice foreshadowing and excitement throughout, which was quite interesting to me. The ending is probably the most ambiguous, as it should be, so hats off to that. To me, it seemed like they ended on a “friendly” or at least “agreeable note” by having Tom put on his hat as he sees Leo walk away putting his hat on as well. It could mean something about respect, mutual agreements, mutual work fields, or maybe that Tom will always be in this, even if he says he’s out. Something along those lines at least.
- Or perhaps he put on the hat "in service" of himself or who he served last and actually wants to finish the job and kill Leo? Who knows, I mean it's not impossible. His look was a bit "off" in the end shot, as seen in the gif image below... Whatever the answer, the ambiguity is great enough to throw us off slightly, which means the Coen's succeeded all the way to the end.
And for the movie itself, I had a good time with it. I think my second watch will be better, because while the plot is interesting the story can be very confusing, with a lot of names, situations and plotlines that sometimes gets you confused, until you sort of find your footing again a little later, only to lose it yet again. But even for the “heavy plot”, the movie seemed light on its toes even so and I don’t doubt that the Coen’s had control over their movie at every point – the question is how much control they wanted to assign their audience. And a side-note, that Sam Raimi cameo though! Had to look it up to see if it was really him
And my favorite scene was definitely the assassination attempt. Slicker than The Godfather and cooler than Scarface! I was so pumped in that scene, it just oozed with style, substance and a cool factor that called for its presence all around every corner of cinema – cinematography, sound design, acting, directing etc. Can’t remember the exact quote, but one of his men said “Leo’s still an artist with a tommy gun” Damn straight, and the Coen’s are still artists with a camera…
I actually wanted to give the movie that full four- star rating right off the bat, but yet again I must confess I’d rather be wowed even more on a second watch, than perhaps feel less about it. So a gentle rating yet again here from me…
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