Well, I really enjoyed O Brother. Don't have time to post at length on it, but it was nice watching it with my parents because there were some neat things in it that they connected to--the governor with the radio show was actually a Texas governor who got popular enough to be governor because of his show and writing "You Are My Sunshine," (I think I have that right) and Mom and Dad remembered the show well, including the flour commercial jingle, which Dad sang for us.
The music was wonderful and very familiar, since my brother and my parents have been into folk music since my brother picked up a banjo in 5th grade, so it was really neat for them to see people they've listened to for years featured in a popular movie.
The casting was great and it was fun figuring the Odyssey references. It's the first major film I've seen George Clooney in and I thought he was wonderful. I like the idea of Ulysses as a verbose, half-intellectual/half-snakeoil salesman, 100% Podunk Southerner as Ulysses. Clooney played it beautifully.
I liked the setting, too. It may have been Mississippi, but a lot of it was similar to familiar parts of TX and AR.
All in all it was very funny with some great scenes, and sillier than I expected, but it also lent a certain mystique to some of the folk music, especially that Alison Krauss/choir (sp) song with the baptism/lotus eaters. I loved that scene. The KKK scene was wonderful too, and though it was funny, the song "Death" (a favorite of my parents') was really haunting.
Thanks for the recommendation, Cal.
