Scuse Me....

Some people say..."Scuse me while I kiss the sky..."

I am different.

I say..."Scuse me while I genuflect and kiss the ring of the Coen Brothers for they shall lead us out of the darkness and bathe us in everlasting light"

I realize what I say doesnt roll off the tongue quite as nicely as what "they" say but I simply must tell you that what I say is much more appropriate because, simply put, it says it all.

Pray tell my dear, faithful fourteen, what could be more spiritual than to take a seat in a darkened theater; surrounded by the stink of two day old popcorn; feet firmly planted in the sticky remains of yesterday's spilled soda; lost in the crackle of other people's candy wrappers; eyes focused firmly on the whitest of white screens looming carefully out of the darkness; so white as to be nearly naked; to wait as a vision parades slowly before the reverential multitudes assembled thereforth.

My God, all I want to do is leap to my feet, thrust my hands toward the heavens and shout; "I have been to the mountaintop and I have seen the light..." as my body writhes in never ending glory.

This is how I felt as I watched The Coen Brother's ode to love, betrayal and ethics..yes..even ethics....Miller's Crossing.

These are the guys who brought you the Academy Award winning Fargo not too long ago...but I wont review Fargo even though I loved it. I wont review it because it is too common now...everyone loved Fargo and I dont do well in crowds. But..Miller's Crossing...well now..this is a hat of a different color. I will take great pride in even exposing one person to this two hour journey into movie making brilliance.

And we can begin right at the beginning...with a dark screen voice over which belongs to one Johnny Caspar who happens to be a cheap ass excuse for a garden variety hoodlum. As Caspar speaks, we get to see a close up of an empty shot glass soon filled with ice and, of course, a shot of whiskey. Said glass is lifted to the icy lips of Tom Reagan and, in short order we see the main players in this scene...Caspar and his henchman Eddie, the epitome of pure evil; and Reagan and his boss Leo who happens to be the Don Corleone of whatever unnamed city this tale takes place in. As the camera cuts back and forth, Caspar continues to speak...there are actors who would die for this kind of "open the film with a brilliant monologue" speech and the thrust of it is that Caspar has come to notify Leo of his intentions to eliminate another cheap ass hoodlum because...well, as Caspar puts it...."the schmatter is a horse of a different color..ethically speaking."

The notification deteriorates into a threatening type of argument between the two men as their number two guys watch from the sideline. The scene ends with Caspar sliding out of the room; sheer menace hanging in the room in his absence....then Reagan and his boss briefly discuss what just took place...Leo digs in his heels and..voila...we move on to the start of the film.

I write of the opening sequence in such great detail simply because I have seen few movies open with the kind of power which Miller's Crossing brings to the screen. With the ease of a magician, the table is completely set in the opening sequence and everything which follows flows from this one meeting. In doing so, the Coen Brothers have created their own special little world; populated by people who talk in strange terms yet the terms make sense..it is like they have a language all their own and we are privy to being able to listen to it.

This is a complicated movie; full of deceit, manipulation and betrayal. Caspar plays like a walking contradiction; a guy who tells his boys to always "put one in the brain" when rubbing someone out yet he has an almost desperate adherence to the concept of ethics as it applies to his unsavory business...as if you could really trust the guy across the table to really have anything resembling your best interests at heart. His main thug, Eddie, gives new meaning to the word psychotic. Leo is a big hearted slob of an Irishman who packs a mean punch. Tom Reagan is the man who walks behind the man and whispers in his ear...and there is a whole lot of whispering going on in this film.

Like every Coen Brothers movie, it is the secondary cast which steals the show. Monica Gay Harden is fantastic as a world weary sleazeball which both Leo and Reagan are in love with...John Turturro oozes slime as the schmatter who fails to behave in an ethical fashion. For that matter, no one in this flick behaves in an ethical fashion..they just pretend to. It is an absolute delight to be thrust from scene to scene; not knowing what will happen next but always knowing that in Coen we trust and that trust is well rewarded.

This is not a casual film and it may be necessary to watch it twice to truly understand how the ending fits together. It all makes sense and there is no use of gratuitous gimmicks here which is just one more reason for me to be in such awe. I hold a high regard for intelligent story telling and, believe me, these guys earn every bit of my respect.

The direction is flawless...the story imaginative...the actors inscrutable.

I cant think of anything more a worshipper could want....