A Mirror Floating in Water

Raising Arizona seems as if a camera was given to a twelve year old Orson Welles and was told to go crazy. This is an unbelievably skillful and well photographed film with endless eye-candy and camera moves that seem like circus tricks. This film is just exploding with Wellesian innovation and charm.
That is, with the camera at least.
Raising Arizona is probably the prime example of a director choosing stlye ocer substance. This is a suprisingly premature film from the Coen brothers, who made Blood Simple only two years ago, and Fargo ten years later, both of them masterpieces. This one, is an extemely well made dud. Nothing works in here except the camera. Everything is overdone to nauseating extremes, including the comedy. The screenplay is very messy, which can be quite poetic, but at the wrong times. Really, this film is like a seesaw: It has either moments of pure genius or flat-out embarresingly helpless ones.
It's a good thing that the Coens realized that they could both express their genius and be funny at the same time with Fargo, which is so beautifully subtle and smart. But hey, Raising Arizona was just a mistake. The Coens made Blood Simple before and Fargo after, along with many other greats to add to their collection. Every dog has it's day, and every dog has it's dud.
5/10