Blood in snow

Rating: Null/10 (18 March 2004)

Jerry Lundegaard (William H Macy) is in a financial crisis and he comes up with the idea of cooperating with a couple of wee criminals from Fargo, North Dakota to kidnap his wife and demand his wealthy father-in-law to pay the ransom so he can split the money with the kidnappers. His father-in-law is later shot dead by the abductors because he shouldn't even be the one who go see them. Then they gunned down a cop and two witnesses on the highway- things go inevitably wrong. The heavily pregnant police chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) is in charge with investigating a case about a stolen vehicle, which leads her to a visit with Lundegaard. Gunderson is about to uncover a chain of bloody crimes.
'Fargo' is a gripping, dark film and indeed, in a way, it is a comedy because at times it makes you laugh. Frances McDormand and William H Macy were quite brilliant, Steve Buscemi is funny and his quiet partner (unfortunately I can't remember or locate his name) is even funnier. The whole movie leaves you freezing, literally, not just because of the setting, but also because of the plot. I admire the Coen brothers' work, such as 'The Big Lebowski', which is very different from this one, but is dead hilarious.