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Directed By
Joel Coen
Written By:
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Cast:
William H. Macy, Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare, Harve Presnell, Steve Reevis, John Carroll Lynch, Steve Park, Kristin Rudrud, Jose Feliciano
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Fargo (1996)
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Movie Review by Jarrod
October 10th, 2008
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'Fargo' is one of my all-time favorites; it works as a delicious dark comedy, a simplistic yet endearing love story, and an ingeniously structured crime thriller. Joel and Ethan Coen have not, in my view, made a better movie; No Country for Old Men might be my second choice, if I were forced to pick the two most accomplished features from the Coen canon, either No Country for Old Men or The Big Lebowski, but whatever the results, 'Fargo' would still come out on top, which I hope is a clear indication of how much I admire and enjoy this film, which I have seen many times, and it still remains fresh and inventive, wonderfully entertaining and incredibly funny.
The Coens hail from Minnesota, so they know that state and its people well, though some of these characters border on caricature, with their goofy accents and incessant uttering of words like "Yeah" and phrases like "darn tootin", and yes, I have met Minnesotans who talk that way, but not the extent portrayed here. Sarah Palin gives you the impression that such vernacular is used in Alaska, as well. 'Fargo' begins with a meeting between Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) and two men in a bar; Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi) and Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare). Jerry is a crooked car salesman who has gotten himself into some financial trouble. He has hired Carl and Gaear to kidnap his wife Jean (Kristin Rudrud), so that her wealthy father Wade Gustafson (Harve Presnell) will pay a large ransom to get her back.
Jerry will split the money with Carl and Gaear, but he might not need the abduction scheme if he can persuade Wade and his partner Stan Grossman (Larry Brandenburg) to sign off a property deal he has engineered. Wade does not think that highly of Jerry; believes he always screws things up and exercises poor judgment, and indeed, Jerry's plan goes horribly awry, as a lot of unexpected complications occur. For instance, he gave Carl and Gaear a new (unregistered) car right off the lot, and Carl forgets to put the tags on it, which means he gets pulled over, with Jean whimpering in the backseat. Gaear handles the situation with violence, shooting the cop, and then murdering two unfortunate motorists who happen to drive by as Carl is dragging the body off the road.
Consider the relationship between Carl and Gaear. They are business associates, not friends, and have nothing in common; Carl is a chatterbox, and Gaear prefers to keep silent, Stormare probably does not have five full sentences of dialogue in the whole movie, but then all we really need to know about Gaear is that he is a ruthless and psychotic killer, which he demonstrates effectively enough. He shows no remorse or mercy, displays no emotion, is sort of a chilling precursor to Anton Chigurh, stares blankly into space while puffing cigarettes or watching cartoons on television. Carl annoys him.
Both men are opportunistic, cold-hearted professionals, concerned only with getting the payment that was promised to them to Jerry; they do not trust each other, and they renegotiate their price once innocent lives are claimed, since this attracts the attention of the police. These events transpire in Brainerd, a small town notable for being the home of Paul Bunyan; a huge statue of him stands on the outskirts of the town, and, boy, does it looks creepy at night. The chief of the Brainerd police is Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand). Marge is seven months pregnant, which makes her job more physically burdensome, and has also imbued her with an insatiable appetite, wondering about food even while examining bloodied corpses. She initially comes across as sort of a simpleton, but is blessed with intuition and resourcefulness, which allows her to follow clues and draw reasonable conclusions based on available evidence.
Marge is happily married to Norm (John Carroll Lynch); he is the type of husband who gets up early to fix her breakfast, and she buys him nightcrawlers so he can go ice fishing, and she is supportive of his modest artistic endeavors, which include a painting competition where a winning picture gets placed on a stamp. When I called 'Fargo' a love story, I was not really exaggerating when it comes to Marge and Norm, I like how the Coens devote a few scenes to their marriage; the romance between them is warm but also extremely ordinary, high school sweethearts who will spend the rest of their lives together. McDormand is fabulous in her Oscar-winning performance; her Marge is full of folksy charm and possesses a surprisingly sharp intellect, at least compared to her dimwitted colleagues, like Lou (Bruce Bohne), who is unfamiliar with the concept of dealer plates. McDormand's work here is sly and totally genuine; she never has a false or insincere moment.
Macy is just the right choice for Jerry, and is able to generate sympathy and pity for him even though he never seems to express much concern for his wife's well-being. Maybe the pity comes from the fact that Jerry is such a pathetic and incompetent criminal. He has big ideas, but cannot execute them properly, and they always backfire, for reasons that are usually out of his control. Wade, for instance, is a self-made millionaire fiercely protective of his money, and so he insists that he will deliver the ransom himself, when the agreement was that Jerry would deliver it directly to Carl. Jerry is pestered by calls from General Motors, asking him about serial numbers he sent them in a fax, which were deliberately smudged so as to be rendered illegible. GM, however, is not fooled, and Jerry is told that legal action will be taken if he cannot rectify the issue. Buscemi is brilliant. The cinematography by Roger Deakins beautifully captures the wintry landscapes of Minnesota and North Dakota.
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