The Coen Brothers

Flamboyant visual style, richly conceived characters, crisp dialogue and brilliant casting - Joel and Ethan Coen have pulled off the ultimate balancing act. Despite having their movies financed and distributed by major studios, they have somehow managed to remain true independents, rejecting commercial cliches, and never giving up on their own fiercely idiosyncratic vision. From their startling noir debut, Blood Simple to the cons-on-the-run comedy O Brother, Where Art Thou?, all their movies reveal a distinctive stamp. In his biography of the sibling film-makers, Ronald Bergan traces the brothers' Jewish roots, their beginnings as film geeks in the suburbs of Minneapolis, their battles to get their first feature made and released. The updated version includes a new introduction and chapters on Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers and The Man Who Wasn't There, bringing the book right up to date.