FLUXEUROPA: FARGO

FluxEuropa - dark music and more

FluxEuropa has suspended active publication and no longer requires items for review. The site is, however, being maintained as an archive and you can still post to the Gigboard and order Amazon products which helps to subsidise its continuation.

FARGO (1996)

Dir: Joel Coen
Written: Joel & Ethan Coen
WH Macy, Steve Buscemi, Frances McDormand, Peter Stormare, Harve Presnell

JERRY LUNDEGAARD (Macy) manages his father-in-law's car dealership in Minneapolis. He's not the kind of guy you'd feel comfortable buying a car from. His face is a bit too open. And he seems a bit - well - preoccupied.

As well he might. See, Jerry needs a lot of cash fast. So he's hired a couple of hoods (Buscemi - a Coen Brothers' staple - and Stormare) from Fargo, North Dakota to kidnap his wife. The ransom will be extorted from his father-in-law, Wade Gustafson (Harve Presnell in his first movie in many years) and Jerry and the boys will split the $80 grand (ahem!).

Of course, things go wrong, starting with a routine traffic stop in Brainerd MN, which results in the death of a state trooper. That's when the blood starts to flow, as the two bungling kidnappers - and Jerry - contrive to escalate an already doomed situation.

This is the story of the triumph of the sensibilities of ordinary people - as personified by Marge Gunderson (McDormand in a wonderful performance), Brainerd's seven-month-pregnant Chief of Police - over outrageous and appalling situations. The very ordinariness of life as lived outside the plot makes the blood that much more horrific.

The Coen Brothers, in my experience, have made dark, deeply convoluted movies (Blood Simple, Barton Fink and particularly Miller's Crossing. Raising Arizona was similarly dark, but also very funny.)

Fargo is lighter, more accessible and hilarious. It's violent and bloody, but keeps things light with a couple of running gags, super music and wonderful photography. All the characters are three dimensional, with depth and credibility. It's easy to see Fargo as poking fun at midwestern sensibilities - until you remember that the Coens hail from Minneapolis, and that this is based on a true story.

If you like black humor, and aren't turned off by multiple gunshot wounds, score some points with yourself and see this film. Even my companion, who scoffed at Heat for not exploding enough blood bags, was satisfied with this one.

Award yourself a bonus if you spot

in a cameo...

JOHN BLOWER - 26 March 1996