A lot can happen in the middle of nowhere.

Rating: 9/10 (10 August 2008)

The Coen Brother's masterpiece of the 1990s is Fargo, an incredibly twisted, sick, yet funny and quirky story about a kidnapping plot gone wrong. William H. Macy is spectacular as the befuddled yet conniving car salesman Jerry Lundegarrd, a man trying to make his way in the world but decides to do so by having two not-so-smart henchmen kidnap her. From here, everything that can go wrong does and we see all that Jerry thought was going to work turns out to come and bit him in the butt.
What really is memorable about this film is not only the great performances by Macy, Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare but also the amazing settings the Coens gave themselves to set each scene up to be exactly as they wanted it. Collaborating with the genius that is Roger Deakins, they give us a bleak and ugly landscape that sets the tone for the rest of the story. This is certainly the type of movie perfectly watchable in the dead of winter, especially if you live in an area where snow is constantly looming above. The writing is nothing short of incredible as it moves flawlessly from each characters' situation until it all comes together in the end. Certainly one of the best films of the 1990s, if you are at all interested in the Coen Brothers, this film represents them best.