One of Those Films You Hope Comes Around Once in A Blue Moon

Rating: 10/10 (14 December 2015)

This movie put two things on the map: Fargo, North Dakota, and the Coen Brothers.
The city has been around since 1871, and has a fairly interesting history (feel free to Wikipedia it), yet is best known for film that was made in 1996. Pretty sad, actually. You want to have some fun? Type in Fargo to Google and see what comes up. If your experience is anything like mine, then you will see first articles about the newish (and apparently very good; I should check it out) TV show, then the movie, and only third the actual city.
The Coens have a fairly similar tale, though they are by now far more well-known across American than Fargo the city. Because it was their breakthrough into popular culture (and earned them their first Oscar), it was many a film-goer's introduction to them. As such, there are a fair amount of people who think that this is their first feature film when it is in reality their fourth.
But enough posturing and preparing. Why did I give this film a perfect score? What specifically makes it so captivating? Why is it regarded as one of the greatest films of the nineties. Well, in one sentence, it seamlessly blends comedy and drama without missing a beat, delivering a film as thought-provoking as it is entertaining, as likable as it is nihilistic, as beautiful as it is gritty.
I think if the Rotten Tomatoes review recap were a little more artsy, it would sound something like that.
In 1987, a car insurance salesman, played nicely by William H. Macy, is desperate for money. A lot of money. So he arranges for his wife to be kidnapped by some random criminals in return for 80K and a new car. He will then tell his wealthy father-in-law (who owns the chain of car dealerships) about this, say the criminals want a million in ransom, give them the 80K, and take 920K for himself, so he can start his own operation and start making money his way.
Now, if he were competent, this would have been a totally different movie. But he's not. No one is in this film. From the time you learn that he's a used car salesman, he feel almost a sort of pity towards him. He bungles around and sees everything crashing down on him, and there is nothing he can do about it. I won't spoil the ending, but it does not end well for him, or for any of the characters.
There is nothing more powerful than a comedy-drama done right. Neither contemporary film critics nor general audiences usually like them at first, but history gives them windfall.
Just because there is darkness does not mean that the movie has to be miserable. Thinking otherwise is how you get (relative) tripe like The Pianist or The English Patient while some of the greatest films of all time, like Leon: The Professional, a film I was reminded of more than a few times during my viewing of this, are shut out.
But of course, Leon, while it has a more vivid, more adventurous tone than one would expect for its subject matter, is not a comedy. This is. We throw the phrase 'dramedy' around a lot to describe a series or movie or game that has a lot of comedic and dramatic moments. But that phrase has never seen more apt than it is here. This film is not just a comedy and a drama, it is a full fledged combination of the two. And it is beautiful to behold. The drama makes the comedy better and the comedy makes the drama better. This approach is hard to pull off, but when it works, oh it works. And it never works has well as it does here.
A major theme in this film is imperfection. Think back to the title: they are in the far north, not the bright lights of NYC and Los Angeles. This motif is everywhere if you look for it, particularly in the characters. No one in this film is that confident or assured or smart. They are tragic characters, but not in the sweeping, cinematic sort of way, or even in the way we like to see reality portrayed. Rather, they are clumsy and awkward and angry; but not in an absolute way; they have some good in them too. Even one of the villains does something surprisingly selfless.
At the start, we are told that this is a true story, but at the end, we are told that it is not. Right there is the confusion and sense of hollowness that the Coens make so much use of here. Risky conniving and strategy are cool when they are done well, but are tragic for most others, for most of us. And after all our quests and ventures, it so often is empty and worthless, which us all dying. It doesn't lull on it like dramatic films can, but rather weaves it into the dark comedy, which makes it all the more poignant.
I do not like this film quite as much as No Country for Old Men, but it is a thoughtful, dark, masterfully-written, stunningly-shot, radiantly-scored film that you would be doing yourself a disservice to not see. You will not realize how invested in you are until half the film is already over.