Just saw a wonderful, if overlooked, film by the Coen brothers, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?". Made in 2000 and starring George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson, it is a retelling of Homer's "The Odyssey" set in 1930s Mississippi. Clooney is brilliant as Ulysses Mc Gill, the writing is fresh and funny, the cinematography uses a sepia tone that works well and the soundtrack of old Gospel and Blues music is worth the time just on its own.
While it would make the film that much more enjoyable, you don't have to remember Homer's epic to love this film. In fact a number of stories in the poem are out of sequence in the movie which makes it an odd, if original, re-conception of the story, though my memory of the poem is hazy.
I think I am going to get the Fagles translation of Homer tomorrow, read it again and then see the film a second time. Any excuse to hear that soundtrack.
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