Taking its title from Preston Sturges’s comedy Sullivan’s Travels (1941), in which a director takes to the road in Depression-era America, O Brother . . . sees the Coen Brothers put their own slant on Homer. Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney) escapes from prison with fellow convicts Pete (John Turturro) and Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson) on the pretext of finding buried treasure, but McGill’s aim is really to stop his wife Penny (Holly Hunter) remarrying. As the trio encounter obstacles including sirens and a cyclops (John Goodman), the Homeric influence is clear in one of the Coens’ most entertaining comedies.

Notes by Kevin Coyne.

Screening as part of the IFI’s Odysseys season throughout July.

Tickets for 70mm screenings of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey on sale now!