One of the deepest films of recent years

Rating: 10/10 (14 January 2004)

How glorious it was to watch this movie again. I must have seen this movie at least twenty times already and I still don't get tired of it. I always see something new, enjoy laughing at jokes I know by heart, the enjoyment one can get out of this film is limitless...if one can allow themselves a bit of twisted humor.
The movie is loosely based on real events that took place in Minnesota back in 1987. (I'm not referring to the character's names because they are clearly not the same people in real life). A man (William H. Macy) hires two guys (Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare) to kidnap his wife while he makes his father-in-law pay for the ransom. It's a far-fetched plan to begin with, but as the characters carry this plan out, it seems that the powers that be are making sure that this plan ends sour. Everything that can go wrong does go wrong for the kidnappers. After they kidnap the man's wife, they end up killing a patrol officer and two people who just happened to pass by. Enter Francis McDormand, a very content and very pregnant police chief, who is called in to investigate the crimes.
As this film carries on, we see a pretty clear juxtaposition of McDormand's character and how happy she is with her life being the way it is and how the kidnappers and everyone else involved in that plot become more and more greedy. Everybody that values money over life here seems to get their come-uppance. The kidnappers, the man, the kidnapped wife's father, everyone who places their own importance over anyone else's seems to get it in the end. For those of you who haven't seen this film, don't worry, I won't spoil the hows, just the whys.
On one side, it's a suspenseful thriller. At a second glance, the nuances of this movie's twisted humor shine. At another glance, the film looks epic in it's scope of a snow-swept terrain. But at the center of this movie is how getting carried away with the "American Dream" can become tragic.
The performances of Francis McDormand, William H. Macy, and Steve Buscemi are the real treats among this uncanny cast. McDormand's certainty and steadfast nature make for a perfect center point for the film. Macy plays his down-trodden loser to perfection in this movie. Buscemi makes a permanent career for himself here as the perfect weird little guy to put in any film.
But the biggest character of the film itself is the bleak and chilly scenery of the film and it is vividly brought to a life of it's own through cinematographer Roger Deacons, proving that he is the best living Director of Photography. Never overplaying the colors and using the natural lighting to stand out on it's own, Deacons frames and fills each shot to eerie perfection.
One thing that the Coen Brothers do so well is how they portray their characters at the farthest end of their rope. The characters in this film are pushed so close to the edge that it becomes both hilarious and chilling to watch the events unfold. This movie asks the audience to find humor a train wreck, not allowing the audience to blink, but allowing them to take the situation with a grain of rock salt.