Manny Farber, though still much-revered as a film critic, eschewed film in favor of painting. Farber began writing film reviews for The New Republic in 1942. He continued his film career through the 1970s, writing most notably for publications such as Film Comment. As his book "Negative Space" (1970)

Agitated, Dense, In-your-face, Quirky, Smart

Joel and Ethan Coen cut their teeth on relatively low budget, fringe films. The black-humored brothers' deviant reinterpretations of Hollywood formulas laugh in the face of the studio system. Influenced more by cartoons, B-movies, and exploitation flicks than by pretentious prestige productions, the

Absurd, Bombast, Cartoonish, Grotesque, Playful, Smart, Witty