Presented with minor context, here lies a chronological inventory of notable grooming moments in the Coen brothers' filmography.
1994, The Hudsucker ProxyAfter his business success, the naïve Norville Barnes gains a taste for luxury. His lush life is visually described with cucumbers on his eyelids and a manicure station at his desk.Take-home grooming tip: Pamper your face; don’t forget who you are.
1998, The Big LebowskiTara Reid introduces herself with a plea for pedicure assistance from the Dude (“Blow on them”). Later, she loses one of her recently lacquered toes. The Dude, in his devotion to comfort, draws himself a gentle bath and surrounds his corporeal shell with candles. There, he is attacked by a phalanx of threatening men who drop a ferret into his tub.Take-home grooming tip: Life is chaotic incomprehensibility, and relaxation predicates a level of vulnerability. Violence follows all.
2000, O Brother, Where Art Thou?No hair pomade has so highly motivated a convicted felon like tins of Dapper Dan have to the Coens' American Ulysses. It is waxy catnip to his vanity. Police hounds use the scent of Dapper Dan to track him.Take-home grooming tip: Brand loyalty in the extreme involves misguided single-minded mania. Predictable habits should be avoided by men on the lam; never be completely knowable.
2001, The Man Who Wasn’t ThereThe Coens’ grooming opus, The Man Who Wasn’t There opens with a primping factoid: "Sooner or later everyone needs a haircut." Billy Bob Thornton plays a regretful barber, as delicately severe as the razor-blade close-ups that populate the movie.Take-home grooming tip: With haircuts, as in life, decisions make us as often as we make decisions, you know?
Most Popular2003, Intolerable CrueltyThe audience's first introduction to suave divorce attorney Miles Massey is at a teeth-whitening appointment, where the propped-open cantilever on his face exaggerates his fake grin to a menacing degree.Take-home grooming tip: Clooney has slightly wonky teeth. This is not so much a tip, as a statement of fact.
2007, No Country for Old MenThe villainous hitman Anton Chigurh was most distracting for his void-like lack of compassion, his coin flips, and his batshit pageboy hairstyle. In his Oscars acceptance speech for the role, Javier Bardem said, “Thank you to the Coens for being crazy enough to think I could do that and put one of the most horrible haircuts in history on my head.”Take-home grooming tip: Avoid such haircuts, avoid murder. These choices will suit you well, all your days.
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