‘You can’t improve upon the classics, man’: Classical allusions in Tim Blake Nelson’s film Leaves of grass (2009)

Abstract

In Tim Blake Nelson’s film Leaves of grass (2009), Bill Kincaid(Edward Norton), a successful professor of Classics at BrownUniversity is lured back to his native Oklahoma when he receivesword that his identical twin brother Brady (also Edward Norton) hasbeen murdered. Although he has deliberately distanced himself fromhis ‘eccentric’ family for over a decade, Bill dutifully flies home,only to find his ‘dead’ twin very much alive and planning to use Billas his alibi for a murder he and his sidekick Bolger (Tim BlakeNelson) intend to commit. While Bill has been diligently crafting hisacademic career, Brady has instead channelled his genius intogrowing marijuana hydroponically — part of the reason for thefilm’s title. Brady is in a double bind, having borrowed a substantialsum of money from a Tulsa drug-lord called Pug Rothbaum (RichardDreyfuss), and being at the same time under considerable pressure toquit the drug business, as his girlfriend is pregnant. This articleexplores the numerous allusions to ancient Greek and Latinliterature, philosophy and culture that the film’s director Tim BlakeNelson, who himself majored in Classics at Brown, has confessed toputting into almost every scene. A major focus of this ‘tonallyvaried’ film is its exploration of the interface between the two mainforms of drama derived from Ancient Greece — tragedy andcomedy.