With the Coens you are always entertained

Rating: 6/10 (4 May 2016)

"Fargo" is an American movie from 20 years ago and despite some well-received earlier work, it was the big breakthrough for the Coen Brothers as writers and directors that won them an Academy Award as well. And it also won lead actress Frances McDormand (married to one of the Coens) an Academy Award. I see some people debate her being a lead in this film, but I guess I agree that she is. Yes she is not in it the first third of the film, but afterwards she is probably the main character. The other thing debatable here is William H. Macy's supporting nomination. Not only is he first credit, but nothing in terms of the action would have happened without his decision to stage his wife's abduction. Wrong category for sure, he is undeniably lead.
Now, let us talk a bit about this film. I believe the biggest strength here is the writing. it is tense, dramatic, a great crime story and also extremely funny on some occasions. My favorite moment was probably when McDormand's character (perfect wife, perfect cop) was examining the very first crime scene on the highway. Hilarious stuff and her cop colleague was just great with what he said and how he said it. It is always the Coen's strength to make minor characters really entertaining and memorable and this one is another brilliant example for their great talent. I would probably not agree with McDormand's Oscar, but I still think she was pretty good and maybe the heart and soul of the film. It has mostly to do with her being a good casting choice and especially with the way she was written. This film here is one of the rare exceptions that has either completely good or completely bad characters and it's a great achievement by the Coens to make this work.
The cast includes more known names, such as Steve Buscemi, whose character is as ill-fated as it gets here with all he has to go through the longer the film goes on. And with "longer", I am talking about no more than 95 minutes which is really short, not only for the Coens, but in general, but that's perfectly fine. This runtime keeps the film nicely on spot and focused. Plus, the setting in the snowy town of Fargo helps the atmospheric touch as well. And there are many great scenes in terms of camera work that function extremely well with the strong writing. The Coens prove that they were already masters of their craft back then. I recommend watching Fargo and I got curious about the relatively new television show now too. Maybe I will watch it at some point. Talking about this movie finally again, I want to emphasize once again how much fun it is to watch the characters here with all their quirks and actions. Extremely memorable. Go check it out.