Fargo (1996)

In my opinon the Coen brothers are one of the most talented and underrated people working in film today. All you have to do is look at their work and realise how much talent they have. They are able to switch between comedy (Raising Arizona / Big Lebowski) to crime dramas (The Man Who Wasn't There). Fargo, released in 1996 is closer to some of their earlier work, such as Blood Simple. A more violent work, almost horror film was the first by coen bros and fargo seems like they are revisiting that area

Fargo tells story of Jerry Lundegaard , is experiencing fiancial trouble and in a panic comes up with an unusual plan to hire someone capture his wife and demand money of his wife's wealthy father. He hires Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi) & Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare). Along with this we also follow the character of Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand), a cheif who is assigned to the case.

it's an unusual story tackled in a quirky manner and takes quite alot to stick with. However, what coen bro movies are so good at doing is mixing genres. So in fargo you have a crime / drama / thriller / comedy all in one. Many non comedy movies that attempt comedy moments, the comedy usually falls short, cringe worthy and out of place. With fargo it never does, i think its mainly done by the charisma and effort but in by the actors. Steve Buscemi is fantastic as is peter stormare. William H macy does his quiet normal guy thing put in weird situations pretty well, but he always seems to play same type of charatcers. The story of Marge Gunderson's character provides a much needed counter story to the main story. her character is more down to earth and provides a real balence to the more hyberbolic aspects to the film. A lot of the more subtle comedy comes from her character, and the role is brilliantly acted.

Fargo is a film full of rich characters, an interesting and engaging story. One other issue i want to bring up is the tone of fargo. It uses very strong genre conventions. It has an almost film noir feel, guy captures someone, hired hitmen, a cheif on his case all conventions much to feel of a traditional film you would expect to see in 1940s. However, it doesn't match entirely. The characters aren't clear black and white, good and bad. It dosen't use any proppian narratives. We are meant to dislike the bad guys, but in this case they are funny and audience engaging. William H macy's character, the main character, is a confused charatcer and is not easy to read. all of this being said, Fargo is a 90s classic, though not my fave Coen bros movie (big lebowski being my fave) this is still a great film that i fully recommend.