THE HUDSUCKER PROXY with author Adam Nayman
JOEL COEN | USA | 1994 | 110 MIN | PG
Adam Nayman, author of The Coen Brothers: This Book Really Ties the Films Together, will discuss the film with Slate film critic Sam Adams. Copies of the book will be available for signing in the lobby. Shakespeare & Co. will be onsite as the bookseller for the event.
The Coens’ fifth feature is a brilliant homage to classic screwball comedy, following the meteoric rise of Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins) from the mailroom to the boardroom of New York’s Hudsucker Industries. Scheming to tank the company and buy up controlling interest on the cheap, nefarious executive Sidney J. Mussburger (Paul Newman) installs Norville as Hudsucker’s new president. But to the board’s surprise, Norville’s seemingly idiotic design for a circular plaything (“You know, for kids!”) turns out to be a runaway success. Fast-paced and loaded with references to classic cinema, THE HUDSUCKER PROXY finds the Coen Brothers at their funniest and most technically accomplished.
About the book:
From such cult hits as RAISING ARIZONA (1987) and THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998) to major critical darlings FARGO (1996), NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007), and INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS (2013), Ethan and Joel Coen have cultivated a bleakly comical, instantly recognizable voice in modern American cinema. In The Coen Brothers: This Book Really Ties the Films Together, film critic Adam Nayman carefully sifts through their complex cinematic universe in an effort to plot, as he puts it, “some Grand Unified Theory of Coen-ness.” The book combines critical text—biography, close film analysis, and enlightening interviews with key Coen collaborators—with a visual aesthetic that honors the Coens’ singular mix of darkness and levity. Featuring film stills, beautiful and evocative illustrations, punchy infographics, and hard insight, this book will be the definitive exploration of the Coen brothers’ oeuvre.
Adam Nayman is a contributing editor for Cinema Scope and writes on film for The Ringer, Sight and Sound, Reverse Shot, and Little White Lies. He has written books on SHOWGIRLS and the films of Ben Wheatley, and lectures on cinema and journalism at the University of Toronto and Ryerson University.