The newest addition to the strange and unique world of iconic filmmaking duo, the Coen Brothers, comes through the form of Ethan Coen's 'Drive-Away Dolls'. A light-hearted and fast-paced comedy/thriller guaranteed to leave you satisfied with a good time.
Of course, audiences over the past three decades have familiarised themselves with seeing movies that were produced, written and directed by the Coen Brothers as a duo. However there have been occasions in which a singular brother has gone off and done their own thing, and 'Drive-Away Dolls' is just the latest example of this.
For those of you that are unfamiliar with the plot of this movie, 'Drive-Away Dolls' essentially follows a similar rhythm and pattern that most Coen Brother productions maintain. There is a case. The case holds extreme value. Two female protagonists stumble across case. The pair panic and discuss their options. The pair then find themselves in a heap of trouble because of said case.
And although this description doesn't summarise the entire movie as well as do the storyline justice, this is pretty much the gist of it.
This film is lead by two strong female performances from Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan. The pair excel in portraying an unlikely female friendship consisting of the out-going and extroverted friend (Qualley), alongside the shy and timid half of the partnership (Viswanathan).
Both actresses do a solid job of portraying their half of the friendship, and whilst Viswanathan serves the role of adding further storyline and depth to the movie, Qualley maintains the job of making the audience laugh and adding well-needed humour to the movie.
Although there are numerous laughable moments delivered on a plate from various cast members, it really is the performance from Beanie Feldstein that excels the most within this aspect of the movie. Feldstein delivers a humorous and aggressive performance as 'Sukie', the ex-girlfriend to Margaret Qualley's 'Jamie', who finds unique ways of dealing with her recently-expired relationship.
Although it is difficult to categorise this movie into a specific genre, the comedic moments provided from the likes of Qualley and Feldstein allow the production to be deemed as both a comedy as well as a thriller, maybe even more so the former than the latter.
And although the storyline of this film, one would originally assume as intense and dark, the light-hearted moments of comedic relief fail to cause any worry amongst the audience members in regards to where the characters will actually end up. Even throughout the darkest moments of this movie, where we see our protagonists in some difficult spots, we never actually fear the worst for them and safely assume that they will come out of the other end of each situation unharmed.
One very specific aspect of this movie that can't be left unmentioned is the carefully chosen unique selection of transitioning techniques between scenes. It is very rare in cinema these days that we see such strange and unique transitions between frames that one would compare with a 10-year-old's PowerPoint presentation, but in this film that is exactly what we see.
It is difficult to put a finger on why Coen chose such unique and unprofessional transitioning techniques for this movie, but then again, there are a wide range of filmmaking decisions scattered amongst this film that aren't difficult to question. Regardless, Ethan Coen is one half of one of the most well-respected filmmaking duos of all time, so who are we to judge his artistic choices?
The entirety of this movie essentially feels like a statement from Coen saying: "I can make whatever the hell I want, so why not go crazy?".
One redeeming factor of this movie that plays in it's favour is the extremely short run-time of only 84 minutes. The fact that the film does not take long at all to play out certainly bodes well with it's audience members, as they aren't having to fork out too much of their precious time to get to the story's conclusion.
If this film maintained a run-time similar to a production of Martin Scorsese's, forcing audiences to sit through a slow-burn of 3 hours and 30 minutes, I could see why most audiences would feel as though their time has been wasted. But the fact that we can quite easily see this film unveil itself in less than 90 minutes means you're in, you're out and no one gets bored.
Much like the various examples of unique filmmaking choices, it is difficult to put your finger on any purpose that this film may possess. A story about two lesbians who stumble across a highly-valued briefcase and their journey as they hope to keep their heads attached to their bodies certainly refuses to take ownership over any deeper meaning. Therefore it's responsible to just accept this movie for what it is and just enjoy the ride it takes you on.
Overall Rating: 6/10