Righty-ho I think its time for another review so I decided to go for a Cohen brothers film, and these fellas are no strangers in how to make a good film, so I've plumped for Fargo, which stands as one of their very best, and with that let's do the usual, look at the plot and take it from there...
OK so plot, the film begins with a dim-witted car salesman, Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) who is in financial trouble, who approaches two criminals, Carl Schowalter (Steve Buscemi) and Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare) with the proposition to kidnap his wife, in which he will give them half the ransom money of $80,000. Jerry intends to get the ransom money from his wealthy father in law, Wade Gustafson (Harve Presnell) but he tells him in reality that the ransom is $1,00000 which he intends to keep most for himself. However on presenting a real estate deal to Wade, which he appears to interested in, Jerry tries to call off the kidnap by speaking to Shep Proudfoot (Steve Reevis) who put him in touch with Gaear, who tells him he has no contact number for him. However on meeting with Wade about the deal, Wade intends to buy the property himself and just give Jerry a finder's fee, which leaves Jerry frustrated and angry.
However by this time Carl and Gaear have kidnapped Jerry's wife, Jean (Kirstin Rudrud) and once they are on the road, they are eventually pulled over by a Minnesota state police officer, as Carl did not have licence plates put on the car. On speaking to the officer, Carl tries to bribe him, and the officer asks him to step out of the car, which prompts Gaear to shoot the officer dead, and he tells Carl to clear him off the road. On trying to do so, a couple drive past witnessing Carl drag the body, and Gaear chases them down and as the couple's car crashes off the side of the road, Gaear shoots them both. The deaths are soon investigated by local police chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) who is seven months pregnant. Marge on her investigations questions two prostitutes that had sex with Carl and Gaear, and also she traces the car license plates to Jerry's car dealership and she interviews Jerry and also Shep, but she finds no further information. Jerry meanwhile tries to convince Wade that the kidnappers only want to deal with him, but Wade turns this down and decides to confront them himself, which ends in disaster as he meets with Carl, demanding to do the trade only if his daughter is there, and instead Carl shoots Wade in the chest, who shoots him in the cheek, which prompts Carl to shoot Wade dead. After this things spiral even more out of control as the film leads up to its dramatic climax.....
It has to be said that Fargo easily stands as one of the Cohen brothers finest films, as it is fused with their fine combination of dark humour and drama, which is found in most of their movies. The film starts with the caption that the events are based on a true story, when in fact the characters and the story are fictional, although Cohen brothers did say that the events of film were actually based on true events from different cases, which they mixed into the story. The Cohen brothers were also from Minnesota and here they almost poke fun at their native home state with how the locals speak with the phrases such as "yah, you betcha" and "ohh yah!" "oh jeez!" all the time, which at times almost seems like he is making the people look like a parody of themselves. But the Cohen are never ones to shy away from making films about colourful characters, and he certainly has done that in the past, specifically with the South.
Moving onto the performances, well they are all superb, and the Cohen brothers always excel in getting the best out of their cast. Starting with William H. Macy who is great as the not so bright car salesman, Jerry Lundegaard who thinks he can sort his financial troubles by having his own wife kidnapped, which of course turns out to be a surefire case for disaster. Macy has his share of great moments in the film, especially where he throws tantrums when he is trying to scrub his snow and ice ridden car, and when he throws his office desk blotter high above his head and slams down on the desk. And in a way Jerry is quite a pitiful character yet at the same time he is quite dispicable that he would be so stupid as to endanger his own wife's life and not just have the nerve to ask for the money from Wade (although he was right that Wade wouldn't give it up right enough).
Steve Buscemi is also great as Carl, the chatty and cynical criminal, who Jerry hires to kidnap his wife, and Buscemi has plenty of great scenes and lines of dialogue. One of my favourites is when he is charged four dollars for when he drives into a parking lot to pick up another car and change the plates, and he tells the car park attendant "you think you are a big man there, sitting there with your shirt and tie??! These are the limits of your life, man!" and throws the money at him "there's your four dollars, you pathetic piece of shit!". Also when he first meets with Jerry and he doesn't get the idea of the business proposition Jerry is offering and he says "its like payin Peter to rob Paul, it doesn't make any sense, Jerry!". And of course there is the scene when Carl makes the long drive up to Jerry's house and he tries to engage in a conversation with the very untalkative Gaear, and he says "ok two can play at that game, let's see how you like it?! Total fuckin silence!". Also Buscemi's geeky looks make him a subject of amusement throughout the film as some of the locals the describe him to the police say he was "kinda funny lookin, in just a general way!".
Peter Stormare is also great in his role as the quiet and chilling sociopath Gaear Grimsrud who barely speaks throughout the film and conveys very little emotion with his deadpan expression. Gaear could almost be compared in fact to Anton Chigurgh as he is also a cold remorseless killer (although Chigurgh is a bit more chatty!). And while he doesn't have many lines of dialogue at all, I like his line after he shoots the police officer, Carl tried to bribe, and Gaear says "You'll take care of it! You're a smooth smooth, ya know. Just clear him off the road.". And yep a PLOT SPOILER is coming up, but one of his most chilling moments is also one of the most peversly amusing scenes in the film when he feeds Carl's chopped up body into a wood chipper, and you see him try to push one of Carl's feet down into the chipper using a piece of wood!
Frances McDormand is also excellent as Marge, the police chief in Brainerd who investigates the murders, and she is potrayed as a heavily pregnant woman, who is very capable at her job, and she spends half her time investigating and the other eating! ;-) Frances's funny scene comes when she interivews the two hookers who had sex with Carl and Gaear and she asks what Carl looked like and they say "oh he was kinda funny lookin" and they all exchange "oh yah!" together while nodding their heads frantically. And her scene with Gaear at the end when he has been arrested and she drives him to the station is great when she sadly muses over what he has done and says "there is more to life than a little money, ya know. I just don't understand it." And finally Harve Presnell is really good as Wade Gustafson, Jerry's wealthy and kranky father in law, and his best scene comes when he confronts Carl in the car park as he carries a gun and the suitcase full of money and he demands "where is my daughter, you damn punk! No Jean, no money!" and Carl shoots him and Wade gasps "ooohhhh jeeeez!".
As for the Cohen brothers well their direction and writing are pretty much faultless here and in Fargo they have drawn some amusing, chilling, and oddly endearing characters, which something they have always excelled at. And one scene I will lastly mention as an example of this is when one of the Brainerd police officers questions a local who describes his run in with Carl and he says "well this guy said he was looking for some action, I'm goin crazy down there by the lake, and I said what kind of action, and he said what do you think, woman action! And he said what do you think, are you saying I'm some kind of jerk, as the last guy that said that to me is dead now, what do you think of that? And I said well that doesn't sound too good for him!" and when asked what Carl looked like we get the familiar reply "oh kinda funny lookin!".
Also worthy of mention is the cinemaphotography by their regular DoP, Roger Deakins, who does a stunning job here, as he knows how to make any film look great, and there are several great shots, particularly the opening shot of the car driving by the big statue with the sign saying "welcome to Brainerd". Also there is a great overhead shot where Jerry dispondently walks towards his car after his property deal falls through. And lastly I will mention Carter Burwell, who is the Cohen brothers regular composer, and he provides a terrific music score here, with many great dramatic passages that underly the tragic themes of them really well.
So that's it for my look at Fargo, which I hope you enjoy, and I will leave it there for now. Yaaah!
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