Fargo (1996)

[Pulpmariachi]

Two things: SPOILERS may be present and the review should be read aloud in a very Mid-Western accent yah.

Fargo is a film by Ethan and Joel Coen; that alone should tell you enough about this movie.

It is a film of white. Snow covers everything for miles and miles around, or at least as much as the frame lets in. It is a film of characters, their dialect, mannerisms and everything that just makes them so gosh-darn Mid-Western.

Fargo, for those you than don know, is about a man who needs so cash quick yah, so he hires these these kidnappers from an Inian frien to kidnap his wife yah so he would be able to collec the ransom money from his step-da, who is pretty well off yah.

Things for the bad when the kidnappers are pulled over and pull off a triple homicide. They kill this cop and then they some witnessess that saw 'em passing yah. Bringing in one of the best female characters in American cinema, heck, just cinema in general...Frances McDormand's Marge son-of-a-Gunderson. She's pregnant, about seven months in and a brilliant character, yah.

Steve Buscemi is the great, loudmouth villian that he is, cursing up a hecka storm and being a very angry little fella. Funny-lookin too. His counterpar, whose name I don remember at the moment, is a hecka of a creepy guy, silent and brooding, everythin a psycopath ought to be don you know.

Joel and Ethan Coen have crafted a film that izzent so about the plot of the kidnapping, but the characters and how for the most part they're pretty ordinary.

There's a lot to say about the movie that I can't really say 'cause I cannit say it right, but it's just one of those you gotta see. If not for anything but the woodchipper.

William H. Macy gives the performance...probably of his career as that desperate husband.

But the film is violent, yah. About seven people die in the course of the film, horrible hor horrible violent deaths.

Much of it is funny until it gets sad, like the scene where the kidnapped wife tries to escape, but she continues to fall. At first you laugh then you just feel pity.

It's a film noir in white.

It's desolate but full of life. It's pure but full of violence. It's just a great great film. Every award it got and nominated for Fargo totally deserved.

A+ for me, yah.

[Heineken Skywalker]

Uh, you betcha, FARGO's a good one allright, yah. ;D

But seriously, not just easily my favorite Coen Brother's movie, but simply one of my all time favorite films. The dry dark humor, the performances, the cinematography, it's all pretty damn perfect.
William H. Macy and Frances McDormand give the performances of their lives. Good review.
10/10

[Quorthon]

I'm sorry, but it turns out that I just couldn't read your review.

Being Mid-Western as I am, I found little use for this film but flagrant insulting misinformation and unwarranted humor. WE DO NOT TALK LIKE THAT!

Sure, a select few Mid-Western folk do say "yah," but even around here that "Minnesotan Talk" is largely a joke. There's even a book, for Minnesotans, called "How to Speak Minnesotan." It has a whole bunch of other classically Mid-Western fun in it as well, such as information on cassaroles and ice fishing.

But in my circle of friends, from High School, we largely couldn't understand why everyone thought that it was such a great movie--what with it having the POOREST and MOST UNREALISTIC dialog of pretty much any film.

Oh, and here's something you non-Mid-Western holier-than-thou yuppies probably didn't know: Despite the fact that the movie takes place largely in Minnesota, Fargo is a city in North Dakota.

You want a more accurate film which takes place in Minnesota? Try Grumpy Old Men.

THUMBS DOWN

Only the guy-shoved-in-the-wood-chipper was a good part.

[Pulpmariachi]

Which is part of the charm of the movie. It only takes place in Fargo for like a total of...three minutes. But the Coens said that "Fargo" is a better title than "Brainerd."

Well, pity you didn't like the film, Quorthon, because I'm very much with Heinekien on this one. Obviously.

[ZapRowsdower]

Quorth: at least you understand how I feel about A History of Violence's portrayal of teens.

...and I still liked that movie, for what it's worth.

As for Fargo, not on my top 10 of all time, but very close.

[Heineken Skywalker]

quorthon said:

--what with it having the POOREST and MOST UNREALISTIC dialog of pretty much any film.

Wooh! I can't remember the last time I so strongly disagreed with something posted on these boards. Oh wait, yes I can, but that ended in a really nasty flame war, so I'm just gonna back away slowly from this thread now.

[Quorthon]

Fargo has every other word slanged to the point that we're all 1/2 a generation away from being full blown Norwegien immigrants. "Yah" is said about 7000% more than it's said in real life around here.

Most people around here don't sound anything like that. Especially with our tasty populations of Hmung and Somolian/Kenyan immigrants. Day to day, it's so rare to actually hear someone talk like they were portrayed in Fargo, that's it's wildly noticable when you do actually stumble upon some such ignoramus.

This is a far cry different from what I think about the teenager in History of Violence. Like I said, I've been a teenager (and it sucked), and I've known teenagers that exhibit very much the attitudes seen in HoV.

However, I am the only Minnesotan on here (granted, I was born in California, but was only there for the first year of my life, hence, I am now a full-blown Minnesotan), and quite likely, the only person on here who's actually been to North Dakota. I know what I'm talking about. Fargo is a wild exaggeration, conversely equivalent to calling Hurricaine Katrina a "light shower."

[ZapRowsdower]

If they removed all the wild exaggerations, then a large chunk of its charm went right out the window. Half the fun was in the way they talked. Regardless on whether or not that is how they actually talk, it just made the movie more fun.

And as I have stated before, I have more recently been a teenager. And I admit, I've seen people get into fights for many stupid reasons. But losing a baseball game at P.E. was not one of them. Usually, it involved personal property (ie, expensive shoes) being accidentally damaged. And that was more at Junior High than anything else.

[Pulpmariachi]

I don't really want to antagonize you, Smitty, but my brother IS a teenager and he got in a big fight with pretty much everyone after WINNING a basketball game (I think it had something to do with him losing a contact and having to sit out).

I've been to North Dakota, when we did the family trip of the Dakotas. But I was too young to remember it.

Heinekien has the right idea. I think I'm gonna go down that path.

[Quorthon]

Why would anyone take a family trip to the Dakotas?

There's pretty much nothing anywhere in either state. Except Mount Rushmore in So Dak. But that's way on the western edge of the state. The rest of it: Booooooooooooooooorrrrrrriiiiiiiiinnnnnnnggggggg.

State Motto: A pickup in every garage, and a hat on every man.

[Phoenix]

However, I am the only Minnesotan on here (granted, I was born in California, but was only there for the first year of my life, hence, I am now a full-blown Minnesotan), and quite likely, the only person on here who's actually been to North Dakota. I know what I'm talking about. Fargo is a wild exaggeration, conversely equivalent to calling Hurricaine Katrina a "light shower."

I've never been to those places, and I dont really care to either. If I remember correctly though Fargo is a FICTITIOUS movie and therefore allowed to be a 'wild exaggeration.'

I love Fargo. I think it's great creative fun. Very well done movie too - exceptional acting, amazing story, beautiful shots.....

10/10 for me. If only there was a movie that good in 2005.

And Pulp, I thought your review was cute.

[Quorthon]

A fictitious story is fine. Most movies are fiction, most novels, too. But when they stray from the facts, such as the when Star Wars Episode III completely overlooked the way zero gravity (or microgravity) works in space (during the opening battle sequence), it loses credibility.

I think it's sad that everybody claims to be against stereotypes of all kinds, but gladly embrace the stereotypes Fargo makes of all Midwesterners. If that's the case, then maybe all Southern people are inbred hicks and KKK members with their education stopping at the 3rd grade. I guess all blacks are long-armed, poo-flinging monkeys who's only goal in life is to loot as many TV's as they can from white people. And all Jews jerk off to pictures of banks. And all women are crappy motorists. I guess Fargo is okay, because it's alright being prejudiced against white people, right?

That's my problem. That prevailing hyper-liberal idea that racism is a-okay, so long as it's directed at white people. It's why I hate Martin Lawrence.

[Bartwald]

But you do like some other Coen Bros. films, don't you, Quorth?

Fargo is 8/10 for me and I never judged it by the language.

[Phoenix]

quorthon said:

That's my problem. That prevailing hyper-liberal idea that racism is a-okay, so long as it's directed at white people. It's why I hate Martin Lawrence.

Talk about off-topic. jeez. Totally out of line IMO.

Ok, you dont like it. We get it.

[Quorthon]

My complaint about stereotyping Midwestern people is on-topic for this movie.

I can't think of other Coen Brothers movies I've seen. I've never been all that big on them. Did they do Big Lebowski? Are they the ones that like killing off Steve Buscemi?