A Film That Keeps You Off-Balance

Rating: 9/10 (21 May 2005)

There's something almost mystical about the pacing and plot turns of Fargo. It really is something of a unique film; it's hard to compare other films to it. Those unfamiliar with life around North Dakota land will be especially intrigued, because it is a slice of America that Hollywood routinely ignores. The lifestyle is not only captured on film by direct means, it is captured indirectly simply through the pacing and erm... Color? Angles? Way?.. the film is shot. It puts you there.
But you won't be focusing on that, you will be focusing on the riveting plot and performances of every actor in the film. You will experience the feeling of North Dakota along the way, but it is not the chief commodity of the film. If there were an Academy Award for the person/people who do casting for a film, this is one that should have won that year. From largest role to smallest, everyone is amazingly perfect.
My only complaint with the film was how it was originally billed. It was billed as based on a true story. That must have been some sleazy move by the studio to help promote a film they felt would otherwise go unnoticed, because the film is not based on any real life story at all. The people are all very real and believable, as is the plot, as is the place. But outside of the place, it's entirely fiction.