With the release of the Fargo television series featuring Billy Bob Thornton and Martin Freeman, surely it’s time to revisit the Coen’s 1996 classic, Fargo? You betcha! We say don’t forgo Fargo (apologies), you’ve got to Hit Play!
And boy, is this a good movie! In its bare bones, it is a crime drama but the Coen brothers constantly undercut the seriousness with a quirky irony. The acting, the script, and the direction lift the movie light years above most of the movies of its decade.
William H Macy delivers a career performance as mild-mannered car salesman Jerry Lundegaard in a snowy corner of Minnesota. But poor Jerry has problems. He needs money and very quickly so he hits upon a hair-brained scheme in which to get it. He hires career criminals Carl Showalter and Gaear Grimsrud to kidnap his wife in order for his wealthy father-in-law to cough up the ransom. Once that's done, he takes half the money while Carl and Gaear keep the rest. Simple, yeah? Only, things take a very ugly turn when people begin dying and heavily pregnant Police Chief Marge Gunderson begins poking her nose in where it doesn't belong. It seems that everybody is about to have a very bad couple of days...
Marge Gunderson has become a sort of cultural character. People quote her like the Terminator or Charles Foster Kane or George Bailey or Darth Vader. She's so famous that I do not think many people realize Marge essentially comes in around forty minutes into the 98-minute movie. Yet that's what people think of when they hear the word Fargo--Marge Gunderson--and so it just shows what an impact a film like Fargo made. And not only impact, but the remembrance of characters we love to remember.
It’s three different stories melded into one brilliant caper. You have this clean, old-fashioned lady cop (McDormand), a middle-of-the-road bungling car salesman and two extreme low-life killers in Carl Showalter and Gaear Grimsrud all combining to make this story a mixture not only of people but genres.
Fargo is flawlessly constructed with sub-plots girding the storyline, enriching characterization and sharply calibrating the suspenseful pace. The frozen north setting is a refreshing change from big city and vacation land locales that dominate feature films and the Coens expertly put it to use to create mood, evoke humor and accent imagery.
This is an extremely subtle film, one that will definitely improve on multiple viewings but one with an extremely black comic centre. It is also quite visceral at times but never does it threaten to fall into the well-worn paths of hundreds of other movies. Fargo is a genuine one-off, beautifully shot with stunning snowy landscapes and creepy real-world locales. In some ways, it reminded me of a David Lynch film with very normal people behaving in very strange circumstances. Whether this is a good thing depends on your personal tastes but it's certainly a change for the ceaseless drivel that frequently flows from Hollywood.
Joel and Ethan Coen, thanks a bunch for this one!