Berlinale: Hail, Caesar!
Hail, Caesar!
Directed by Joel & Ethan Coen
Starring Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand and Channing Tatum
by Malin Arvidsson
The international premiere of Hail, Caesar! was a great film choice to open Berlinale 2016. The Coen brothers once again have succeeded in creating a funny, quirky movie with lots of different personalities in their exaggerated forms – There is the super British, posh director Laurence Laurentz (Ralph Fiennes) who tries to direct the cowboy actor Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich) in an English drama. There is the dancer DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johansson) who, in her audience’s eyes, appears to be a sweet innocent girl while in reality she is most certainly not. There are the twin journalists Thora and Thessaly Thacker (Tilda Swinton) who compete against each other for the juiciest story. There is the director of the film studio Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) who tries to keep it all together even when star actor Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) gets kidnapped before finishing scenes of their epic movie “Hail, Caesar!“.
With a few scenes that go on a bit longer than necessary, Hail, Caesar! is lighter and cheerier than the usual Coen brothers fare. The film definitely has a fair few laugh out loud moments, and anyone who likes previous Coen brothers films will probably feel the same about this one.
