Nolan won't eclipse my favorite adaptation of The Odyssey

Christopher Nolan is my favorite working filmmaker. I saw Oppenheimer at least four times in theaters, have watched Interstellar close to 10 times on the big screen, and have seen The Dark Knight dozens of times on every display size. His films feel like events that demand a theater visit, and I’ll be at The Odyssey on opening weekend — even though I’m certain his take will never overshadow my favorite adaptation of Homer’s epic.

The 2000 Coen Brothers film O Brother Where Art Thou? is set in Mississippi in 1937 and follows three chain-gang inmates (George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson) who escape to find buried treasure. It’s an adaptation in the loosest sense, reimagining moments from The Odyssey: the cyclops becomes an eyepatch-wearing Bible salesman (John Goodman) who attacks the trio and steals their money, while the sirens appear as three young women doing laundry by a river whose singing lures the men in.

United States, Mississippi

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