By

Alejandro Villarreal

Published on/by

Vimeo

Accompanying text

Take a pause for the Coen Brothers. The filmmaking duo, whose credits include “Fargo” and “No Country for Old Men,” possess a signature voice in filmmaking. You can’t mistake their movies with anyone else’s. Even stretching back to their debut film, “Blood Simple,” their favorite trademark was their use of the pause.

They use the pause to express humor, suspense, quirkiness, and tone. Not to mention the occasional awkward pause. As the following montage shows, silence is an effective storytelling tool. But one wonders if other filmmakers would even be able to use it in this same, weird way.