Filled with excitement, more than just a true story

Rating: 8/10 (7 May 2007)

"Fargo" is a true story. Quoting the first writing that comes up on the screen when the movie starts, the events depicted in the film took place in Minnesota 1987, although at the request of the survivors, the names have been changed. Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it occurred. "Fargo" tells about a man named Jerry Lundegaard who's in a desperate need of money. So he comes up with an idea to kidnap his own wife, hiring two thugs for the job. Jerry's wife Jean has a father who's rich so the plan is that the father, Wade Gustafson, has to pay the ransom for his daughter, which Jerry will make profit from. Jerry makes a deal with the thugs and carefully plans the whole thing, but things don't go quite as he thought they would.
The amazing thing about this film is that it's really a true story, so what you see from the screen is pretty much what has really happened. It's tragic and it's sad. The screenplay's written by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen and the movie's directed by the other of the two brothers, Joel Coen. What comes to the screenplay, it's very well written, but in my opinion some things could have been left out. I won't go to the details, as I don't want to give away any spoilers. Although there are those unnecessary things in the screenplay, the movie's still very interesting and detailed throughout. Directing has this nice flow, capturing images of cold landscapes, a coldness, giving the movie this darker edge, which is really like this sort of a background essence of the movie. It's pretty hard to explain, but it's important and necessary for the film itself.
William H. Macy plays the role of Jerry Lundegaard and I must say I'm pretty damn impressed of his role performance, one of his best performances yet to date for sure. Macy's one of those actors who can really look believably nervous, which again gives the whole character this huge credibility. His just perfect for the role. Frances McDormand plays the role of a pregnant local police Marge Gunderson, which granted her an Academy Award for the Best Actress in a Leading Role. I agree on the fact that she's amazing in the film, but I really liked Macy's performance much more. There's still one role performance to mention and that is the role of Carl Showalter, other one of the two thugs, which is performed superbly by Steve Buscemi. That is by far Buscemi's best role performance yet to date and I've always honestly thought that Steve's more of a comedian sort of type, but the role of Showalter is a perfect example that he can do drama as well, though the character's is actually hilarious in certain parts of the movie, cooperated nicely by Peter Stormare in the role of the other thug Gaear Grimsrud. Stormare's performance compliments the whole performance of Buscemi, and to me Stormare is always enjoyable, no matter what the role was.
"Fargo" is, all in all, a great movie. It's thrilling, very well progressing and it's filled with great characters performed by fantastic actors. It is definitely a thriller/drama to watch if you're looking for something consisting of those genres. It's exciting, it's serious and it's a fine example how true stories should be translated on the big screen. Very nice indeed.