How to Stand the Test of Time

Hello Everyone! If you just came for the pie, unfortunately it's already gone. As I was setting up, I left the pie on the windowsill in an incredibly cartoon-esque fashion. A bear sauntered by and eyed it intently. The bear proceeded to inquire about the pie, wanting to know if he could have some. I told him that he may have some if he stayed for the blog. Unfortunately, as I went to shake his hand, I knocked the pie off of the windowsill and it was carried away by a ravenous pack of wolves.

Anyways, in this post I'm going to talk about Fargo. Fargo is a film that was written, directed, and produced by film gods Joel and Ethan Coen. It's about a car salesman (William H. Macy) who hires two thugs (Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare) to kidnap his wife (An actress with the funniest voice in the movie, which is saying a lot). The premise is simplistic but as the story starts to unravel, you start to realise that there's much more to this story than the usual kidnapping tale.  The characters are fully fleshed out and the dialogue is realistic for the type of people depicted. Those people being working class Minnesotans. The Coens have a certain knack for capturing real people that really makes me admire them. Nobody feels like an actor in this movie, which I think is a true testament to the actors. You won't find a ruggedly handsome, debonair ladies man; nor a perfectly tanned goddess with a sultry voice (and suddenly everyone has lost interest) in Fargo.

WHOOPS!

The movie is also genuinely funny, if you enjoy dark humour. The scene in the  picture above might be my favourite moment in the movie, when Steve Buscemi's character cracks up at the kidnapped wife's futile attempt to escape.  Besides the dark humour, there's the genuine hilarity of most of the characters voices. If you think that the stereotypical Canadian accent is ridiculous, then you haven't heard the (possibly stereotypical) Minnesotan accent.

The acting is some of the most convincing that I've ever seen. Every character is convincingly portrayed, right down to the smaller roles. The most notable of these is a hilariously tragic character named Mike Yanagita, who takes part in an awkward lunch with our protagonist Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand), a local cop. Speaking of which, Frances McDormand steals the spotlight with a performance so good that any aspiring actor should be required to see it.

There are so many more things I could write about this movie, but this is getting lengthy so the last thing I'll say about it is that the cinematography by Roger Deakins is excellent. There's a scene where Marge is leaving the house after breakfast, and the way it is shot is really interesting because most cinematographers would've chosen to make it into two or three seperate shots, but he managed to fit it all in to one.

I first watched this movie ten years ago, I liked it then (for the wrong reasons) and I love it now. It gets better upon every viewing, and because of the relatively short running time I've watched it many times. Watching Fargo is kind of like watching fireworks. The build up has you mesmerised, anxiously waiting for everything to explode. When it does, you are in awe of its enormity and can't believe how pretty it looked from start to finish.