The Compleat Coen

Rating: 9/10 (15 August 2005)

Fargo is a film wherein the expertise of the Coen brothers creates gold!
ALL their films are excellent, especially The Great Lebowski and O, Brother Where Art Thou.
The Coens are adept at assembling excellent casts: ensembles if you will. But Fargo, of all their movies, has a magic element: if one ignores those amazingly white settings, the dialogue and characters would sing upon a stage. There is a constant flow, even through the 'car salesman' scenes which carries us into the home: to the seemingly neurotic wife and the (always) oppressive father-in-law. Dare one indicate that the script owes much to European theatre? Well, yes.
Part of the charm (and one should accept that this is an EXTREMELY black comedy) revolves around the (almost) patois spoken. Oh, ja? OK. MOST of the charm, however, is based around Marge (Frances McDormand), a very pregnant Police Chief who has a mind like a steel-trap! Given that (at least for the males not within her immediate sphere of influence) her femininity and pregnancy would seem to detract from her investigation, she carries all before her. Marge Gunderson is a wonderful role model. What an irony that McDormand won 'best actress', in as much as her character was up against such powerful opposition. Still, I think the best irony was that her husband appeared to be a non-entity (although amazingly supportive - breakfasts, putting up with her snoring, and always a comforting arm) who, at the end of the film, proved to be a success in his own right.
OK. I waxed lyrical. Macey, Buscemi and Stormare complete what is, essentially, a working ensemble. Is this good? You betcha!