6. Millers Crossing
Plot Summary- Gabriel Byrne and Albert Finney, the don of a gang in (possibly) New York City, are partners in crime. They are hanging out when John Polito storms in looking sweaty and agitated; it turns out that hes livid at Jesus from The Big Lebowski, but Finney wont let him kill him because he is the brother of the woman he is dating, who is also having an affair with Byrne.
Why is it confusing? During my recent viewing of this 1990 Coen Brothers effort, I really did think that I was suffering the delayed effects of being dropped on my head as a baby, because I did not have a clue what was going on. However, once I realised that whats the rumpus? actually means whats going on? (obviously), the film became ever so slightly more coherent and, after reading the plot several times, I began to actually rather enjoy the experience. Through a combination of impenetrable dialogue, gangster terminology and scatterings of not-symbolism (the Coen brothers reportedly admitted that the recurring hat motif is of no particular significance) this film manages to grab you by the short hairs then dump you in a bin, leaving you under the assumption that youre too stupid and uncultured to even understand why this is hypothetically happening to you. Like a lot of confusing movies, once you hack through its shell, a thoroughly entertaining, almost comedic experience is revealed with impressive performances all around, Byrne standing out in particular as a manipulative, smart gangster on a mission. The Coen brothers dont do conventional films, and this is no exception.