Catch next week’s Coen Brothers Film Experience entry on Wednesday, November 25th: The Big Lebowski

I was in grade eight when “Fargo” was released. At that time, films like “Happy Gilmore”, “Black Sheep”, and “Rumble in the Bronx” were more up my alley. It wasn’t until the 1997 Academy Awards when the film won its 2 Oscars (Best Original Screenplay to the Coen Brothers and Best Actress to Frances McDormand), that it even became a blip on my radar. It was then that I first heard about the wood chipper scene. What teenager in their right mind can resist a good wood chipper scene? I don’t remember how I got my hands on the VHS but when I did, I absolutely hated sitting through the movie. When I watched it for the first time, it wasn’t funny (it’s a dark comedy), it wasn’t any good, (it’s great), it was way too slow (it’s actually fairly brisk), and it was soooooo long (it’s only 98 minutes). Added on top of all of that, the sex scenes had no boobies….boooo!

Fast forward twelve years later: I’m now a hobbyist movie blogger and only slightly more mature (still looking for the boobies…), and I can confidently say “Fargo” is fantastic. There is no denying it. It’s also rare that I’m able to find a movie fan that doesn’t rank it near the very top of their list of favorite Coen Brothers films. 

The more I think about “Fargo” in the greater scheme of the Coen Brothers’ work, it has many similarities with a film that came before it (“Blood Simple”) and a film that came after it (“No County for Old Men”).


“Fargo” which is supposedly based on true events is a classic tale of man needs money, man hires goons to kidnap wife, man hopes to benefit financially when the wife’s father pays the ransom, then man gets fucked because a) the man is an idiot, b)the goons are one part nuts and one part incompetent, c) it’s a Coen Brothers movie, and d) Frances McDormand’s Marge Gunderson is on the case.

The cast in this film is excellent. “Fargo” is the pinpoint moment, not only when the Coen Brothers hit the mainstream but when Frances McDormand, Steve Bushemi, and William H. Macy were also launched from indie to mainstream stardom. Macy plays the man who hires the goons (Buschemi & Peter Stormare) to kidnap his wife (Kristin Rudrud). McDormand’s Marge Gunderson is the Fargo P.D. detective assigned to figuring it all out.

Set in Fargo, North Dakota and Brainerd, Minnesota, the mid-west accents are both hilarious and deceiving at the same time. There are moments in “Fargo” where I giggle to myself simply because I’m not used to the mid-western accent. Coming from Canada I should know a thing or two about silly sounding accents (eh..?) but Macy and McDormand get me every time they speak. The accents are given center stage throughout the entire movie and really play into the setting that the Coen Brothers have created. At first listen, the accent is simple, in a small town, friendly sort of way. William H. Macy’s character is really the first person that we hear it from and along with his character, and many along the way, it is pretty much established as: anyone with this accent is a simpleton, not too intelligent and sort of flighty. What is great about Frances McDormand’s role is that while she nails the accent and the demeanor, her character is also smart as a tack. It’s interesting to see how the characteristics of accent and intelligence play together throughout the movie and how it helps elevate her above the other characters. Steve Bushemi, who doesn’t have an accent at all, ends up playing the movie’s most idiotic and incompetent character.

This gets me thinking about “No Country For Old Men”. Not so much the accents but the theme of devastating murders happening in small towns. Through much of “No Country”, Tommy Lee Jones questions how an act, as brutal as murder, and so much of it, can happen. He contemplates if he is able to deal with it. In the end, as he presses on, basically walking through the motions of attempting to capture the criminal, he resigns himself to not being able to solve the crimes. In “Fargo”, the same theme sort of plays out and ultimately, after you meet McDormand’s character, this is the same type of behavior you would expect. In the end however, as a testament to how strong small town people really are, after a couple of “oh dear” moments, she ends up solving things. It would be fun to hear the Coens discuss this. It could just be crap that I came up with because I am thinking too much into things, but it would definitely be something I would like to ask them one day: “Did you choose Cormac McCarthy’s “No Country For Old Men” because it allowed you to examine, from a different perspective the themes at play in “Fargo”?

Tying in to both “Fargo”, and “No Country For Old Men” is “Blood Simple” which at heart is also a crime thriller about murder. It’s the more literal similarities that struck me as I was watching “Fargo”. The long, straight highway scenes and the driving at night camera perspective focused squarely on the passing asphalt caught in the vehicle’s headlamps. Also, murder according to the Coens usually happens on deserted highways. This of course is an exaggeration however, what isn’t an exaggeration is the fact that two out of three Coen highway murders end in an awkward drag the dead body to the side of the road before the oncoming car sees what has happened. John Getz and Steve Bushemi share these roles in the Coen cannon and in each of these instances, the scenes are prominent moments in the movie.

The bottom line: 4.5/5. “Fargo” is a great movie. At the end of the day, even if you only watch it for the accents and the wood chipper scene, it’ll be worth it.

Want to see the trailer?

After seven films viewed for the Coen Brothers Film Experience, here is the list of films in the order of my liking:

1. A Serious Man (2009)
2. Fargo (1996)
3. Miller’s Crossing (1990)
4. Blood Simple (1984)
5. Barton Fink (1991)
6. The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
7. Raising Arizona (1987).

Let me know if I’m thinking too much into the movie in comparing it to “Blood Simple” and “No Country For Old Men” the way I do. A bit of a stretch or dead on? Leave your comments below or find me on Twitter.