Fargo

"Fargo" is a film that begins and ends as it should. You have no idea where it's heading, you are surprised by it, warmed by it, humoured by it, that when it gets to its final destination, you are left completely satisfied.

"Fargo" is still a film that surprises, it has lost none of its originality over the years, you turn it on and you're completely hypnotized by it. Of course this quality doesn't come by accident, it takes gifted filmmaking and of course the people responsible for the film are The Coen Brothers, two of the most gifted filmmakers around.

"Fargo" is the story of Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) a man with a scheme. Jerry's in a bit of a jam, he's in debt, so he concocts a plan to kidnap his wife in order for his father in law to pay the ransom. Jerry hires two low lives (Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare) to kidnap his wife and keep her secluded until his father in law pays the ransom.

Things don't go as planned, when Buscemi and Stormare are stopped by a local trooper and the murders begin. Enter Marge Gunderson (Francis McDormand) the perky, pregnant sheriff of Brainerd Minnesota who's in charge of the case. Marge waddles her way through the bloody awfulness with her Minnesota charm, and some real police savvy.

So much of "Fargo" depends on the tone of the film, at times it works as a noirish crime drama, other times it's comedy of manners in the way it depicts people from Minnesota. The Coens work on a tightrope balancing between genres, but everything stays true and genuine. The Coens even go further with the realism by stating in the beginning of the film that this was all based on a true story. It was only later this statement was discredited, however it isn't hard to believe what happens in the film could be true. As the Coens state in a documentary about the film, "Fargo" belongs in the "stranger than fiction" genre and indeed it is one of those. The events play like a story you might read from a newspaper about multiple murders, or stolen money, or a kidnapping, it isn't hard to imagine a Jerry Lundegaard, or a Marge Gunderson in real life, and it's a credit to the Coens as writer's and filmmakers who make us believe in the film's authenticity.

This authenticity is achieved through the film's use of setting and of characters. Fargo of course is a real place, and it's really only referenced once, the real setting is in Minnesota and the people who inhabit there. While "Fargo" has been criticized for characterizing people from the Midwest, I found The Coens depiction of them to be very human and sweet. This is mostly portrayed through Marge and also her husband Norm (John Carroll Lynch. Using only a few words to define their relationship, we can feel a real love between them. The film itself ends on Marge and Norm cuddled up together in bed closing a film that had no problem depiction the ugliness of human nature into a state of warmth and safety. It is probably the sweetest closing in any Coens' film, and showed where the real heart of it was.

"Fargo" is hypnotic, it's delicate, yet hard, funny, yet tragic, shocking yet comforting. It's all these things, wrapped up in the brilliant words and vision of two great filmmakers at the height of their powers. I go to "Fargo" often, it's modern American cinematic poetry at its finest.