As much as I like the Coen Brothers, I hadn't seen 1987's Raising Arizona in a very long time, not since the early '90s, I think. This month, Criterion has a playlist of Coen Brothers films so I thought I'd reacquaint myself with this one. It's a zanier comedy than I was in the mood for, I think, but still has its charms.
I love the way Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter meet, how he starts flirting with her as she, a police officer, is taking his mug shots. Nicholas Cage in this movie made me feel like I was actually more in the mood to watch Wild at Heart.
The Arizona kitsch aesthetic of Raising Arizona isn't as pronounced as the visual and tonal themes of later Coen Brothers films but I still appreciated shots of gaudy wardrobe set against landscapes of cacti and sand.
Raising Arizona is available on The Criterion Channel.
X Sonnet #1900
A wicked plant deployed its poison seeds.
Across the sky, the thorny stars would run.
A goblin girl was hid among the reeds.
At dawn, the locals found a poison bun.
Abundant killers clog the morning bar.
Beside the train, a hundred villains scheme.
The nearest cop was really very far.
But fools will trade a cap to thread a dream.
Informed dismissals rat the kitchen out.
Regressing staff remind their gods to eat.
Another time recalls a noodle bout.
The deadly pasta built a home for meat.
Arriving meals would break the diner flat.
The truth was writ on someone's welcome mat.
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