Friday, August 22, 2008

Burn After Reading film synopsis/preview

Burn After Reading- Sept. 12

Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen ( No Country For Old Men, Fargo ) Starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, John Malkovich, Richard Jenkins, JK Simmons and David Rasche as the principle actors. Cinematography by 4 time Oscar nominated Emmanuel Lubezki ( Sleepy Hollow, Children Of Men ) Editing by Ethan and Joel Coen, and original music by Coen's regular Carter Burrell ( Three Kings, Adaptation )

Hot off their Academy Award leading get, No Country For Old Men, the Coen brother's take a stab at black comedy again, in a story concentrating on a foul mouthed CIA analyst, Osbourne Cox ( Malkovich ) who ends up quitting his job because of a demotion he recieves for his excessive drinking. He then begins to write his memoir about his experience's in the CIA, recording it on a disc.
At this point his life is pretty much in shambles, as his wife Katie ( Swinton ) wants a divorce during his demotion. She then is advised by her lawyer to make copies of all his financial records that are stored in his computer, also containing his memoir. Unbeknownst to Osbourne, Katie mistakingly leaves the disc at her gym Harbodies, where happless and dimwitted employee, Chad Feldheimer ( Pitt ) gets his hands on it and shares the information with fellow employee Linda Litzke ( McDormand ) and boss Ted Treffon ( Jenkins )
Litzke sees this disc as a financial gain as she is desperate for plastic surgery, so the two hatch a scheme to try to blackmail Cox.
Harry Pfaffar ( Clooney ) is brought in and assigned to the case to retrieve the disc, all the while Harry is sleeping with Katie, Osbourne's wife. And from there crazy situations ensue. 120 minutes.

Oscar buzz is primarily for Pitt, Malkovich and McDormand in supporting roles and also original screenplay.

I have read the script twice as I really liked the story very much. Malkovich gets some seriousiously funny scenes to chew on, but all character's will have their time in the sun.

Interesting note: This is the first movie since Miller's Crossing that the Coen's shot a movie without Acadamey Award winning cinematographer Roger Deakins.

Rated R for pervasive language and violence and some sexual situations.

5 comments:

atgtacoma said...

Very interested in this one. I will miss Deacons though...his cinematography is sublime (especially in The Man Who Wasn't There). I'm also looking forward to Fincher's ....Benjamin Button. This could be a good year for Pitt.

No Bad Movies said...

BAR has had only one poor review and it sounded like the guy was a grump. He didn't " get " it. I read the script, which I can send you if you want. It's very black comedy ala Fargo.
I have also read 4 good reviews. I personally laughed out loud more than a few times when I read it. It's been in my top 10 most anticpiated flicks for 2008.

atgtacoma said...

Thanks for the script off... but I usually like to go in fairly blind and enjoy the plot unfolding.

filmgeek59 said...

this should be pretty good. coen's are peaking. pitt and malkovich really seem to stick out. supposed to be dark comedy in like fargo and lebowski.

filmcriticnot said...

Best movie of the year so far. The whole cast is good. Top opening weekend of all time for the Coen brothers.

About Me

My photo
Started to really pay attention to film ( movies ) what was going on in front of the camera, but more interestingly, behind it as well at about as far back as age 10. Motion pictures ( when good ) are a fascinating medium. All the work and prep that goes into filmmaking. It's an amazing process !