Passafist Reviews Fargo

Rating: 10/10 (18 June 2003)

The Following is the 2nd in a series titled Passafist: The Great Films
The crime in the Coen Brother's film FARGO has to have been the worst executed crime in the history of cinema. It's flawed from the very beginning. It's a good thing that the movie isn't the same way; it's possibly one of the best-executed films of the last 25 years.

I've always been a sucker for strong character dramas. Plot is inconsequential to me for the most part. I always look at it as that added bonus if a plot really grabs me. I just realize that most stories operate on the same seven or eight premises. So it is the characters that save them. FARGO is full of great characters.
The film opens in Fargo, North Dakota, at a shady trucker bar. Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macey, Panic) is there to meet Carl (Steve Buscemi, Con Air) --a low rent, funny looking crook. Carl is there with another man named Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare, The Big Lebowski), a tall, silent and scary looking crook. Jerry drops off a car and sets a crime into motion. The two crooks are to kidnap Jerry's wife (Kristen Rudrud, Pleasantville) and hold her for ransom. Jerry is trying to embezzle money from his well-to-do father in law Wade (Harve Presnell, Face/Off), who is a real jackass.
Needless to say, what should be a simple crime goes terribly wrong. When three people show up dead in a small town called Brainerd, the local sheriff, Marge Gunderson (Francis McDormand, The Man Who Wasn't There) get on the case.
What Joel and Ethan Coen have crafted here is a drama of such life and scope. It's not simply about a crime. It's about people living their lives at a moment in time. There are scenes in this film that are unnecessary to the plot that are completely necessary for these characters.
Take for instance, the intimate scene in a hotel resturant in Fargo. Marge is met by an old high school chum, named Mike Yanagita, (Steve Park, and TOYS). He invites her to the hotel to seduce her. He's so bad at it that he makes up stories to try to win her over. She's so sympathetic, to this mans needs, but also wary of his advances. Any other film, this scene would probably be cut, it sure doesn't move the story along. But it paints a clearer picture of just who Marge really is; it's vital to the evolution of her character. It's perfect.
There is another brilliant sequence near the beginning of the film where Jerry has just told Wade about a great land deal he has in the works. He's hoping Wade will give him the money. When the meeting takes a decidedly different turn there is a single shot of Jerry walking back to his car. It's so sad. It's so heartbreaking. You sympathize with and for Jerry. It's reminds me of that scene in TAXI DRIVER, where Travis hangs up the phone after being rejected by Betsey and the camera pans away to the empty hallway, very effective both times.
Francis McDormand is perfect as Marge. She embodies even the pregnant suit she wears through the entire film. I don't know why Marge has to be pregnant; the film would work without her being that way. But that again is one of those small character beats that makes FARGO a film worth watching.
Another interesting device the Coen Bros. use is a small title screen at the beginning stating that the film is in fact a true story. In all honesty it isn't. But what that allows the film to do is work in the realm of the real. Sure the film is a work of fiction, but still there is a feeling of authenticity that little title allows. Honestly the first time I saw FARGO, I thought it was a true story, and I believed it throughout the entirety of the film.
Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare make great crooks. In any bad film these two characters would be bumbling idiots. Neither one is terribly smart, but there is certain finesse to there performances. I particularly liked the early scene where Buscemi's character Carl tries to stop talking to show Stomare's Grimsrud he can play the silent game. Of course Carl can't shut up, so he winds up talking to himself.
After reading this review your probably thinking this is a drama. But the AFI listed it as one of the 100 greatest comedies. How does that add up? Well, life is sometimes really funny; sometimes you hear a joke and you can't help laughing. FARGO is a comedy of situation. Marge for instance is a naturally funny person, so she'll tell a joke. She's sweet and good hearted and so are the people she works with. So naturally funny things will happen.
FARGO is a great movie. Well worth 95 minutes of anyone's life. It's a slice of life comedy, set against a gritty and horrible crime. It's a human character study. FARGO is one of the best movies ever made. I love FARGO.

GO SEE FARGO!!!