A love of cinema courses through the veins of Joel and Ethan Coen’s movies. Whether they’re offering up their take on a certain style of story, adding an off-kilter spin to the conventions of a specific genre, or demonstrating their mastery of the visuals of yesteryear, their efforts overflow with enthusiasm for their chosen medium. The siblings are fans turned filmmakers, determined to paint their fondness across each carefully constructed frame in every feature. Sometimes, that manifests in a faithful recreation of a past classic, such as True Grit. At other times, they’ve filtered an iconic tale through their own sensibilities, as seen with O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Both spring to mind as the co-writers, directors, producers and editors take on the golden age of Hollywood in Hail, Caesar! From the outset, they clearly keep one eye on fidelity — especially of the exacting, aesthetic kind — and the other on fun. Indeed, rarely has the brothers’ adoration for and exploration of their industry felt as simultaneously meticulous and vibrant as it does here, or as equally zany and meditative. While all those traits litter their resume from their debut, Blood Simple, to their most recent previous offering, Inside Llewyn Davis, the mixture of mania and musing strikes a particularly potent chord in their 17th feature.
Also present amidst the period-perfect imagery and upbeat yet attentive vibe is the brothers’ recurrent obsession with existential matters, as used to add depth to a madcap caper both infatuated with film and aware of the many peculiarities, perils and problems of show business.
Think of executive Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin, Everest) as the Coens’ on-screen surrogate, a man clearly enamoured with his job as the Head of Physical Production at major Hollywood studio Capitol Pictures, but never ignorant of the outlandish occurrences that surround him as a result. Think of him also as a stand-in for the audience, watching on as scenes of exquisite spectacle materialise before his gaze, and attempting to make sense of the mayhem that vies for his attention.
Circa 1951, Mannix’s many concerns include kidnapped stars, ill-suited actors, pregnancy scandals, duelling gossip columnists and tempting job offers, all on the same day. Just as shooting is about to wrap on the high-profile biblical epic that shares the overarching movie’s moniker, leading man Baird Whitlock (George Clooney, Tomorrowland) goes missing, ensconced in a ransom plot headed by a group of communists calling themselves “The Future”. Elsewhere on the lot, cowboy turned western hero Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich, Blue Jasmine) has trouble adjusting to the requirements of a period drama, much to his director, Laurence Laurentz ‘s (Ralph Fiennes, Spectre), frustration.
The trials and tribulations continue, with synchronised swimming starlet DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johansson, Avengers: Age of Ultron) needing assistance with hiding her impending motherhood to save her reputation, while rival reporters Thora and Thessaly Thacker (both played by Trainwreck‘s Tilda Swinton) try to trade in scoops and scandals involving the studio’s talent to bolster theirs. And then there’s the lingering lure of a potential new role at the Lockheed Corporation, which would afford Mannix an escape from cinema-oriented commotions and facilitate more time with his family — but is that what he really wants?
Apart from affection, anarchy is consistent and constant in Hail, Caesar!, and the two make quite the fine companions. In-jokes, nods and winks combine with irreverence and a rebellious spirit, in an effort that pokes fun of the distinctive world that surrounds all things entertaining, but with the warmth that results when those making the jokes are passionate about the subject they’re parodying. Every film-within-a-film segment — including the lively musical number fronted by Channing Tatum (The Hateful Eight) — references history, wrenches it under a satirical lens, and then fuses the two into a cheeky, charming and contemplative melange. Accordingly, the experience of viewing Hail, Caesar! is one of revelling in the details; of simultaneously chuckling at a gag, seeing the chaos behind it, and being forced to reassess your own attachment to the content they’re part of, aka movies as art, items of worship, emblems of their time and intellectual products.
In fact, it’s the kind of concoction that sounds uncertain on paper, but, just as the similarly film-centric Barton Fink did before it, meshes together on the screen from the moment cinematographer Roger Deakins’ (Sicario) glowing visuals come alive and composer Carter Burwell’s (Carol) unleash their apt musical accompaniment. While the fingerprints of the Coens and their technical collaborators can’t be wiped from the feature, they’ve fittingly corralled an energetic cast to enliven their part tongue-in-cheek jaunt, part wry examination, part love letter. Clooney is the movie’s star in the role of a star, which he handles with comic aplomb. With a roster of players this sizeable, however, he’s far from the only focal point.
As crucial to the narrative as his antics and the awakening that accompanies them are, performance-wise, the film belongs to two figures poised on either side of his bumbling leading man. With Mannix tasked with finding Baird Whitlock, among other duties, Brolin oozes a sense of calm that never completely masks his worries, but never fully makes them his sole motivation either. As the studio’s potential successor to Whitlock in the matinee idol stakes — should Doyle ever adapt to the refinements pushed upon him — Ehrenreich finds the winning spot between homespun sweetness, earnest amusement and unexpected savvy. That the remainder of the movie’s many actors compete to steal each scene they’re in isn’t indicative of a flaw in the central portrayals, but proves a testament to the intricacies, complexities and eclectic atmosphere that the immaculately riotous Hail, Caesar! runs on.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Hail, Caesar!
Director: Joel and Ethan Coen
UK / USA, 2016 106 mins
Release date: 25 February
Distributor: Universal
Rated: PG
Actors:
Director:
Format:
Country:
Release:
