en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
Joel Coen and
Ethan Coen, together known as the
Coen brothers (
/ˈkoʊən/), are an American filmmaking duo.
Their films span many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody.<a href="
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coen_brothers#cite_note-1"><span>[</span>1<span>]</span></a> Among their most acclaimed works are
Blood Simple (1984),
Raising Arizona (1987),
Miller's Crossing (1990),
Barton Fink (1991),
Fargo (1996),
The Big Lebowski (1998),
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000),
No Country for Old Men (2007),
A Serious Man (2009),
True Grit (2010) and
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013).
The brothers generally write, direct and produce their films jointly, although due to
DGA regulations, Joel received sole directing credit while Ethan received sole production credit until
The Ladykillers (2004), from which point on they would be credited together as directors and producers; they also shared editing credits under the alias
Roderick Jaynes. The duo started directing separately in the 2020s, resulting in Joel's
The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021) and Ethan's
Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind (2022) and
Drive-Away Dolls (2024). They have been nominated for 13
Academy Awards together, plus one individual nomination for each, sharing wins for
Best Original Screenplay for
Fargo, and
Best Picture,
Best Director and
Best Adapted Screenplay for
No Country for Old Men. Their movie
Barton Fink won the
Palme d'Or at the
1991 Cannes Film Festival.
The Coens have written films for other directors, including
Sam Raimi's
Crimewave (1985),
Angelina Jolie's
World War II biopic
Unbroken (2014) and
Steven Spielberg's
Cold War drama
Bridge of Spies (2015). They produced
Terry Zwigoff's
Bad Santa (2003) and
John Turturro's
Romance and Cigarettes (2005). Ethan is also a writer of short stories, theater and poetry.
They are known for their distinctive stylistic trademarks including genre hybridity.<a href="
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coen_brothers#cite_note-2"><span>[</span>2<span>]</span></a>
No Country for Old Men,
A Serious Man and
Inside Llewyn Davis were included on the
BBC's
2016 poll of the greatest motion pictures since 2000.<a href="
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coen_brothers#cite_note-3"><span>[</span>3<span>]</span></a> In 1998, the
American Film Institute (AFI) ranked
Fargo among the
100 greatest American movies.<a href="
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coen_brothers#cite_note-4"><span>[</span>4<span>]</span></a>
Richard Corliss wrote of the Coens: "Dexterously flipping and reheating old movie genres like so many pancakes, they serve them up fresh, not with syrup but with a coating of comic arsenic."<a href="
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coen_brothers#cite_note-Corliss-5"><span>[</span>5<span>]</span></a>