“A lot can happen in the middle of nowhere” and co-directors/writers Joel and Ethan Coen prove it with Fargo (1996) a diabolically wicked black satire that – despite the film’s opening screen credit – is NOT loosely based on an actual Minnesota kidnapping and murder case. The film actually stars Frances McDormand as inquisitive Police Chief, Marge Gunderson, who we don’t get to see until midway through the first act of the movie.Until then, the brilliantly scripted narrative by the Coen's focuses on actor William H. Macy as financially strapped coward, pushover and car salesman, Jerry Lundegaard, working for his overbearing but extremely wealthy father-in-law, Wade Gustafson (Harve Presnell).
Having dug himself into a very serious financial hole that borders on criminal embezzlement, Jerry decides that the best way to break free of his oppressive job and equally oppressive father-in-law is to hire a pair of would-be kidnappers to break into his home and take his wife, Jean (Kirsten Rudrud) hostage.
Jerry doesn’t want Jean hurt. On the contrary, he loves his wife. But it seems the only way Jerry will be able to get his hands on $80,000.00 of Wade’s money to invest in his land deal is to offer $40,000.00 of it to the kidnappers on a 50/50 split.
Unfortunately, Jerry hires a pair of inept thugs to do his dirty work: smart-mouthed, Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi), and smoldering psychotic, Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Storemare). The initial crime of kidnapping Jean goes off without a hitch - practically. Only now, Jerry cannot convince tight-fisted and utterly stubborn Wade that it would be better to pay off the kidnappers and not involve the police.
Enter very pregnant Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand), a gal with more on the ball than most of her contemporaries in the police force. From the very beginning, Marge senses that the specifics of the kidnapping do not add up. But what does? Jerry’s not talking and, as the hours turn into days, Jean’s life hangs more precariously in the balance.
The plot – paper thin and threadbare at best, is immeasurably fleshed out by the film’s eccentric cast of sordid characters, all given superb bits of quaint business to perform while the legal machinery advances at a snail’s pace. Macy and McDormand are in rare form – magnificent comic foils respectively in their frustration and restraint.
The Coen Brothers certainly knows their way around the material; pacing action with sustained reverence for the absurdity of it all. As the audience, we revel along side Marge’s rather nonchalant, but determined quest to get to the bottom of things. In the end, like Marge, we discover a perverse ugliness behind the off beat laughter – perhaps a bit disquieting and ashamed that such a comedic grand time has suddenly degenerated into one of the most sublime and ugly detective/crime thriller of the last 10 years.
MGM Home Video’s Blu-Ray easily bests its previous standard DVD. Whereas the DVD transfer quality suffered from a residual softness around the edges of the frame and rather pasty colors throughout, the Blu-Ray’s image is razor sharp, offering an extremely refined visual presentation with eye-popping colors.
The audio is 5.1 Dolby lossless and quite aggressive. Extras, including the documentary Minnesota Nice are a direct import from the SE DVD. Highly recommended!
FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)
4.5
VIDEO/AUDIO
4.5
EXTRAS
2
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