Two of the most respected and recognized filmmakers working today, Joel and Ethan Coen made their major debut over twenty-five years ago with Blood Simple. There was little apprenticeship preceding this production, which was shot in 1983 and played a few noteworthy film festivals (Toronto, New York, Sundance) before receiving general theatrical release in January 1985. After graduating from NYU's film program, older brother Joel, credited as director and co-writer here, assistant-edited two small movies, the more notable being Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead.
Princeton alum Ethan, producer and co-writer, was altogether inexperienced. That renders it all the more remarkable that not only were the siblings able to make something genuinely good and lasting, but they were able to do it their way and the way they still do, editing as "Roderick Jaynes", getting Carter Burwell to score, and having the rare privilege of final cut.
Blood Simple. is set in Texas and centers on a love triangle. Actually, we don't see too much love flowing from any of the three points. Julian Marty (Dan Hedaya), the owner of a small, isolated bar, suspects his wife Abby (Frances McDormand) of cheating on him. Those suspicions are confirmed when a jocular private eye (M. Emmet Walsh) smilingly supplies photographs of her in bed with Marty's bartender Ray (John Getz). Ray seems to hold genuine feelings for Abby, who mostly just seems to fear her jealous, enraged husband. The cowboy-hatted private eye, who provides the film's opening narration, is merely an amused, removed observer of the situation.
Then, Marty asks the detective to be more than that, offering him $10,000 to kill both his wife and her lover and dispose of their bodies. Though it violates his lax moral code, Visser doesn't hesitate before accepting the job. This is where things get complicated, with lies, doctored photos, and one of the four parties found shot, bloodied, and unresponsive. The film revels in watching the characters react to a bad situation, each of them making it worse with misjudgment, blunders, and loose ends. The parties attempt to cover their tracks, avoid suspicion, stay alive, and finish what's been started.
Though not used in the marketing of the film, the period is a definite part of the title. As far as sentences go, Blood Simple. is a short one. That's appropriate because the movie makes a statement and does so with a lean, taut, and minimalist design. There is not an ounce of flab here. The dialogue is terse and never wasted. There are five characters of importance and hardly anyone else appears or speaks. Very little goes into giving these characters normalcy, nothing more than some photos of the married couple in happier times. That the film is so very gripping in spite of that is a testament to just how well-crafted it is.
This is marvelous technically and in a way that maximizes the drama and mystery. The deliberate pacing creates tremendous suspense. There are many potent, silent, unusual compositions. Transitions are creative and artistic. Iconicity emerges again and again in images like a shot man sitting motionless with one leg uncomfortably on a desk, the guilt-inspiring flashed headlights of a passing country highway driver, and beams of light shining through the wall-piercing bullet holes of a perfectly staged climax.
The Coens' signature qualities -- oddness and dark comedy -- are largely absent here. Instead, we just get a very good hard-boiled noir, buoyed by the brothers' innate mastery of the medium. The performances are great. Both the basic story and the twists that heighten it are terrifically compelling. But it is the execution that elevates Blood Simple. from what might have been an above-average movie into a rich, wondrous experience that uncovers expressive powers of film rarely tapped.
Besides the Coens, Blood Simple. marks the debuts of Burwell and McDormand, who married Joel after shooting wrapped. That 27-year and counting union has given us much enjoyable collaboration, including McDormand's Oscar-winning lead turn in Fargo. Blood also includes an uncredited but unmistakable vocal cameo by Holly Hunter.
McDormand's roommate at the time, Hunter would have to turn down the role of Abby but would serve as leading lady on the Coens' next directorial outing, the 1987 comedy Raising Arizona. Blood also supplied the first theatrical credit for Barry Sonnenfeld, who handled cinematography on this and the Coen brothers' next two movies. From there, he segued into a notable directing career, although most of his work, which include both Addams Family movies and all three Men in Black installments (the third is due next Memorial Day), could not be further removed from this one's earthy, timeless sensibilities.
It is remarkable that, despite limited commercial success early on, Joel and Ethan Coen managed to sustain productive careers with full creative control. Their talent has served them extremely well, attracting major stars to work for them at cut rates and supply both prestige and marketability. The brothers are currently riding an all-time high on the all-around success of their esteemed blockbuster True Grit. How many other writers/directors of 1985 releases are still regularly working, let alone with the kind of clout the brothers presently enjoy? The list includes Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese, both of whom have upcoming movies with some potential to recreate the combined critical and commercial support of Grit. Beyond them, only Tim Burton, who also made his debut in 1985, and Ron Howard come close.
Blood Simple. won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. Joel went onto share Best Director honors with Scorsese (for After Hours) at the premiere Independent Spirit Awards in 1986. Bigger awards didn't come the brothers' way until Fargo, but in some ways the triumphs of No Country for Old Men, which won Adapted Screenplay, Directing, and Best Picture Oscars, felt like validation of the Coens' debut. After all, in the brothers' eclectic filmography, No Country most closely resembles Blood Simple., with its serious tone, 1980s Texas setting, and separate perspective design. Aside from Raimi-directed Crimewave and the anthology Paris, Je T'Aime, Blood Simple. might be the Coens' least well-known film, but it deserves to be recognized for much more than simply being their debut.
Now, the film can be recognized on Blu-ray Disc from MGM and 20th Century Fox, who released it last week, having inherited it sometime before 2007 from Universal who in turn added it to their USA Films (now Focus Features) from defunct distributor Circle Films. In addition to debuting on its own, Blood Simple. is also available in a four-movie Coen Brothers Blu-ray collection along with Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, and Fargo.
Though not identified as such, Blu-ray presents Blood Simple. exclusively in its 1998 director's cut, which restores a critical, repeated soundtrack selection from the original theatrical release previously replaced for home video and actually trims a number of other scenes.
Blood Simple. appears in 1.85:1 widescreen and it looks delightful. True to the original design, the picture is dark and lightly grainy. When you consider that it was shot nearly thirty years ago and as a first-timer's low-budget independent film, the clean and clear visuals are nothing short of stunning. The rare errant white speck turns up and focus is a little soft on infrequent brief shots, but those are the only things keeping this Blu-ray from visual perfection, a major accomplishment to be sure. The 2.0 DTS-HD master audio soundtrack is less satisfying. The dialogue is a bit muffled, with the stereo having been remixed from modest monaural recordings. Still, everything remains audible and crisp enough, with English SDH subtitles easily summoned to clarify any uncertainties.
The small gathering of extras begins with an unadvertised introduction automatically preceding the film (1:35, HD). This was filmed for the movie's director's cut restoration, which received limited theatrical release around the world in 2000. Mortimer Young (actually actor George Ives), the fake namesake of the fictitious Forever Young Film Preservation, avuncularly welcomes you to the movie.
Though most of the facts he cites are fake, his comment about the movie being edited ("boring parts taken out") aren't entirely untrue, as covered above. Ordinarily, I believe original theatrical cuts should always be included, but in this case, done entirely by the Coens with no reasons but their own, it feels appropriate and the revisions appear to be minor. Still, it would have been nice to get the longer cut as an option or at least the footage in a deleted scenes section (which, as usual, the Coens do not provide). The brothers were amused enough by this introduction to bring Ives back as Mortimer Young for the DVD release of The Big Lebowski, or maybe it was the other way around.
In a similar vein is an audio commentary by "Kenneth Loring" (actually actor Jim Piddock), "artistic director" of Forever Young Films. Talking over the film with a British accent and an academic tone, he reveals that the opening shot inside a moving car was filmed inside a parked car upside down and in reverse. That sets the proper tone. Everything he shares (e.g. actors mouth their lines so as to get a clean recording of a jukebox song, phone calls are conducted with actors speaking into a Dixie cup just off-camera) is misinformation and that is the joke. It's amusing in a dry "Mystery Science Theater 3000" way, as Loring refers to characters as "pleasant fellow" and "unpleasant character", mentions lost footage and an excised Bulgarian flavor, and discusses how Rosemary Clooney was considered for the "massive, bullying woman" film noir archetype for this movie. It might even be more amusing skipping around to maximize randomness, landing perhaps on when he prattles on about Forever Young's failed attempt to acquire the Merchant Ivory library. It is kind of weird company on one of the brothers' most serious films, but it's different and fun.
The extras conclude with Blood Simple.'s original redband theatrical trailer (1:41, HD), which uses a Hitchcock quote and stylishly edits together quick, exciting shots. A teaser trailer was reportedly made before the film was shot with Bruce Campbell depicting Dan Hedaya's part. That sounds like it would be fascinating to see, but it's never joined the film on home video.
Universal's 2001 DVD included production notes and cast/filmmaker bios and credits on disc. While these aren't restored, at least the trailer and tongue-in-cheek commentary were, as they appeared to be missing from MGM's 2008 DVD release.
Menus aren't always afforded MGM's catalogue titles, but this disc boasts a colorful and atmospheric one. In it, a piano excerpt of Burwell's score accompanies tinted moving clips from the film and falling blood drops. The disc allows you both to add bookmarks on the film and to resume feature playback.
Blood Simple. is an arresting thriller and a movie that holds up as one of the Coens' best to date. This is one of the most polished debuts of any major filmmaker and any fans of the brothers' work ought to see where they began.
The film does deserve some serious retrospection and this Blu-ray release is a missed opportunity for both that and to provide the original theatrical cut. Still, while the disc doesn't offer anything new, it restores a worthwhile couple of extras and delivers a stellar hi-def presentation of the film. For that and more so for the film itself, this is recommended.
Bones is a television that first aired on the FOX Network in 2005. The series is a crime drama about an unlikely pair who work together to solve crime, Booth, an FBI agent who uses his gut and instinct, and Brennan, a forensic anthropologist who uses evidence and science, to solve cases. As such, Booth and Brennan work on cases that involves bodies that are burnt, decomposed, or destroyed beyond recognition. Joining them is Brennan's forensic team from the Jeffersonian Institute. The show is partly based upon the fictional novels written by Dr. Kathy Reichs. As an overall crime drama, Bones gets two thumbs up. It is a fun show that includes drama, mystery, comedy, and action. Not to mention, it has a fairly well-rounded cast and solid storylines.
Headlining the cast are David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel. Boreanaz plays FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth. Booth is a former Army Ranger sniper who relies on his wit to solve cases. He believes it is his intuition and ability to read people that solve cases. Evidence and the scientific process mean almost nothing to him. He works for the FBI in the homicide unit trying to solve as many murder cases as possible to make up for the countless lives he took as a sniper.
Deschanel plays Dr. Temperance Brennan, who Booth affectionately calls Bones. Brennan is a forensic anthropologist who works for the Jeffersonian Institute. Her area of expertise is postmortem identification of bodies that are beyond recognition by conventional means. She is an expert martial artist and marksman. She desires to work cases from both the laboratory and the field. She lost her family when she was fifteen. To date, she is still looking for them. It is this incident that drives her to solve cases.
Angela Montenegro (Michaela Conlin) is an artist who is unlike the rest of her cohorts at the Jeffersonian. She lacks their nerdy, anti-social tendencies. She works in facial reconstructions and provides visual representations of what the deceased may or may not have looked like using a 3D holographic computer program she designed. Zack Addy (Eric Millegan) is a young, but bright aspiring doctoral candidate. He is pursuing two doctorates in anthropology and engineering. He works as Brennan's assistant. He is socially reserved and beyond geeky.
Dr. Jack Hodgins (T.J. Thyne) is the team's entomologist. He likes bugs and slime. He is a conspiracy theorist who is reserved about working with the FBI. Hodgins is somewhat geeky, but has social skills and knows how to work with people--most of the time. Dr. Daniel Goodman (Jonathan Adams) runs the Jeffersonian and he typically oversees Brennan's latest important assignments. As an archeologist, he occasionally offers his expertise. Deputy Director Sam Cullen (John M. Jackson) is Booth's boss at the FBI. He is not one of the main characters, but he has an important role.
The characters are part of what makes this series so strong. Each character provides a likeable individual and the relationships they have with each other only strengthen the appeal. Firstly, the seemingly social awkwardness some of the cast have makes for a few laughs in their daily interactions. For instance, Dr. Brennan is focused and typically lacks the same social grace Booth has with people. What works is how well her character and quirks are worked into the stories, as well as the other characters. In the end, they feel more real than most television characters.
In regards to content, Bones follows a fairly formulaic approach. The episodes begin with Booth bringing in a new case for the Jeffersonian team to work on, or Dr. Goodman informing Brennan's team they will be working on this or that. After a preliminary analysis of the remains, Booth and Brennan hit the field to interview suspects, witnesses, and look for more clues to solve the case. Eventually, between their different approaches, a conclusion is found and the bad guys are caught. However, despite the very formulaic approach, the content keeps fresh with its characters and how they develop as individuals and handle each case. In the end, it makes for some topnotch content.
However, while I praise Bones as a solid production, there are some faults. The series does one thing far too much, drama. In each episode, there is some form of drama that clouds one or more of the character's lives. This aspect is useful for character development, but at the same time it can be pretty thick and fluffy. Fortunately, it is not bad to the point it drowns out the rest of the show's positive qualities.
For notable episodes, there are many, but I'll only mention a few. "The Man On Death Row" is a solid episode with a great story. Booth is forced to revisit an old case when a man on death row (he helped put there) is shouting out for anyone to listen. He is innocent and wants someone to take another look at his case. Booth was a green agent at the time and he has Brennan help him find out if the man on death row deserves to die. What works for this episode is the major plot twist it takes. It is very exciting.
"The Girl In the Fridge" is another great episode. A girl is found dead in a refrigerator and Booth finds out a couple with a risque sexual appetite to be the suspects. This is one of the few cases that make it into the court room. What works for this episode is the defense's expert witness, Brennan's old professor and love interest. "The Woman In Limbo" is the series finale and it is an awesome episode. It focuses on Brennan and develops her character further by solving the mystery of what happened to her parents. The episode has a trail of mystery and unfolds a story that you won't want to miss.
Other strong episodes include "The Man In The S.U.V.", Booth and Brennan must find out if a man is a terrorist or just unlucky, "The Man In The Fallout Shelter", the Christmas episode where everyone is quarantined in the laboratory after a biological agent is released, "The Woman In The Garden", Booth and Brennan's latest case lead them to an El Salvadorian gang, and "Two Bodies In The Lab", Booth and Brennan investigate a six-year old case of a deceased mob boss and Brennan's life is threatened.
Overall, Bones is an exciting drama that focuses on homicide cases and dead bodies burnt, decomposed, or destroyed beyond recognition (you might not want to eat while watching this show). The series has a strong cast who works quite well individually and together, as well as solid storylines with only a tad bit too much drama. In the end, Bones makes for a compelling drama that any fan of crime dramas will enjoy.
1. Pilot: Forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan teams up with FBI agent Seeley Booth to investigate the murder of a Senate intern, the political implications of which may prove to be staggering.
2. The Man In The S.U.V.: When a Middle Eastern diplomat is killed in a car-bomb explosion, Brennan and Booth must determine whether he was a terrorist suicide bomber or a murder victim.
3. A Boy In A Tree: Brennan and Booth attempt to untangle a complicated web of deception, sex, and blackmail as they investigate an apparent suicide at an elite prep school.
4. The Man In The Bear: Brennan and Booth travel to a small town in Washington to investigate the gruesome case of a human hand found inside a dead bear.
5. A Boy In A Bush: When the body of a young boy how has been sexually assaulted and murdered is discovered, Booth calls on Brennan to help find the killer.
6. The Man In The Wall: A scuffle at a nightclub leads to the discovery of the mummified corpse of a hip-hop DJ.
7. The Man On Death Row: The race against time is on as Brennan and Booth investigate the case of a death row inmate who may or may not have committed the murder for which he is about to be executed.
8. The Girl In the Fridge: Brennan reconnects with her old college professor--he's also her ex-boyfriend--as she investigates the case of a decomposed corpse found in a refrigerator.
9. The Man In The Fallout Shelter: The team is quarantined and must remain in the lab over Christmas when the examination of a corpse trips the building's biohazard alert system.
10. The Woman At The Airport: Brennan and Booth head to Los Angeles to investigate the murder of a call girl whose extensive plastic surgery complicates the investigation, and Goodman and Hodgins clash while trying to authenticate an Iron Age skeleton.
11. The Woman In The Car: A woman's body is found in a burned-out car, leading to the discovery that her child has been kidnapped.
12. The Superhero In The Alley: The enigmatic death of a self-styled superhero calling himself Citizen 14 has Brennan and Booth searching for answers.
14. The Man On The Fairway: Foul play is the obvious conclusion when Brennan determines that one of the bodies found at the site of a plane crash was not on board the flight.
15. Two Bodies In The Lab: Brennan's life is threatened by a hit man when the body of a mob boss washes ashore, re-opening a six-year-old investigation, while Booth is haunted by a murder resembling a case from his past.
17. The Skull In The Desert: Angela fears the worst when Brennan and Booth investigate the discovery of a human skull found in the desert where her boyfriend has recently gone missing.
18. The Man With The Bone: A human finger-bone found in the clothes of a drowning victim leads to a search for buried treasure.
19. The Man In the Morgue: While in New Orleans to help identify the bodies of Hurricane Katrina victims, Brennan is thrust into the city's shadowy voodoo underworld, becoming the prime suspect in a grisly murder along the way.
20. The Graft In The Girl: Angela befriends a young cancer patient while Brennan and Booth trace the source of her illness: a tainted bone graft provided by a rogue bio-tissue supply house.
21. The Soldier In The Grace: At Arlington National Cemetery, Booth and Brennan investigate the apparent suicide of a soldier who served in Iraq, and Brennan suspects a cover-up.
22. The Woman In Limbo: Brennan tries to come to grips with her past when the remains that she's examining turn out to be those of her mother.
The audio track in this release is in English 5.1 Dolby digital surround sound. The sound quality is top notch and delivers a strong an audible experience by taking advantage of the 5.1 setup (where applicable). The dialogue is easy to hear over background music and sounds effects.
Audio Commentaries are included for the episodes "Pilot" with executive producer Barry Josephson and series creator Hart Hanson, and "Two Bodies In The Lab" with actors David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel. Both commentaries are entertaining and worth sitting through, especially if you enjoyed the season episodes as much as I did.
Squints Featurette (7:54) is about the cast, specifically the forensic scientists, with dialogue from David Boreanaz, Emily Deschanel, TJ Thyne, Eric Millegan, Michaela Conlin, and Hart Hanson. It begins with an explanation to what a squint is and why the term applies. Then the focus moves into discussion about the characters and their dynamics, e.g., having Angela to balance out the scientist roles. The actors also provide insights to what it is like on the show.
The Real Definition Featurette (7:28) is a somewhat interesting featurette. It is a montage of clips from the season one episodes divided into four parts. Each part focuses on a technical definition and provides a non-technical explanation, relevant information, and how it pertains to the case. Each is explained with clips from the episodes. The terms include hyperparathyroidism, coccidioidomycosis, sternal foramen, and prion diseases.
Bones: Inspired by the Life of Forensics Anthropologist and Author Kathy Reichs (6:43) is a featurette about the creation of the series. It stars Barry Josephson, Hart Hanson, and Kathy Reichs. They talk about Kathy's role on the series, the science in the show, why they wanted to use Kathy's worth as a creative starting point, the characters, Emily Deschanel, and so on.
Character Profiles is a collection of character facts for Dr. Temperance Brenna, Special Agent Seeley Booth, Angela Montenegro, Zach Addy, Dr. Jack Hodgins, and Dr. Daniel Goodman. The information is brief and stuff you will pick up if you watch the season one episodes.
The inaugural season of the television series Bones offers twenty-two episodes that are compelling, engaging, and most importantly, entertaining. The show focuses cases where bodies are burnt, decomposed, or destroyed beyond recognition. An FBI agent joins with a forensic anthropologist and her team to solve cases. The cases they work on provide an entertaining mystery while the character development gives the show personality. In the end, fans of crime dramas should appreciate this fresh look at criminal investigations that is bad to the bone. It is Highly Recommended.