It’s a beautiful film.

You hide your emotions (under your hat) and everytime Tom loses his (cool and emotional control) it, the hat flies off. Slick, but they still will have issues with loyalty, which the Celtic people have plenty and how they express it and their deep emotions.

Tom knows Verna, and he knows Leo, he want’s them both in a way and without hurting either one of them, and that is his game. Yet he knows Verna is “damaged goods” and her loyalty is to her brother and he knows Leo’s loyalty to Verna and so he knows what he must do to protect his old friend Leo. Give up the girl and put himself in danger to protect him.

All of the characters are ethical to a degree with different levels of loyalty. Yet in the end, Tom is the one with the most heart by ending his friendship with Leo for the sake of all envolved.

A great complex film and the concept of loyalty and love in human relationships. The film is also to me about Tom, who moves from logic to his ability to rely on his “gut” for the best solution to a problem, that is Celtic all the way.

Ah Freud, you will never figure us out.

I really believe the Coen’s put things like the hat, the rug, the wallpaper etc in movies so they can sit back and watch people make things more than they are. It’s the man on the grassy gnoll and the lunar landing…we just want there to be more to it than what appears to be.

It’s a hat.

Hmmmm. I’ll have to think on that a bit more.

One of the Coens greatest strengths is their ability to straddle the fence when it comes to tone and mood. Some see nihilism, some see humor. I saw ambiguous symbolism, you saw a simple hat. More than any other filmmaker working today, multiple interpretations of their work seem equally valid.

Agreed with you on the music. Carter Burwell and the Coens mix like Kahlua and milk – perfectly.

Great comments. Hope you drop your two cents in the hat more often.

I love the scene where Tom beans the hood with a chair, prompting the little old guy to come in and kick his ass. Every scene with Jon Polito is gold, too.

I don’t think the hat was a major theme in the story. I think you might be trying to overanalyze a little bit. The hat is just a hat. Watch the scene again where Marcia Gay Harden jumps to conclusions about the dream – “No I didn’t chase after it. There’s nothing more foolish than a man chasing after a hat.” Or something like that.

The music is really top-notch. In particular, the scene where they shoot up Leo’s bedroom and the scene where they take Tom out to Miller’s Crossing.

Minor spoiler:

Rug (the guy with the toupee) was killed by Mink (Steve Buscemi). I think that was explained pretty explicitly in the film. It can certainly be confusing on the first viewing, though.

At the same time, there’s something very existential about him. Very much like Albert Camus’ The Stranger (L’homme Absurde). He just does whatever strikes him in the moment. Which is kind of what Chuck is saying.

Is it possible for him to be both controlled by his feelings and disconnected by them at the same time?

I think you’re right about the hat – it represents the fickle uncertainty of Tom’s character which, in a way, is almost the same thing as saying it exists for ambiguity’s sake.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Honestly, we could sit all day and discuss what that blessed hat means, but I feel like the Coens would snicker behind our backs if they knew. And that’s just irritating.