Fargo (1996)

Fargo (1996)

7/10

Starring

Frances McDormand
William H. Macy
Steve Buscemi
Harve Presnell
Peter Stormare

Directed by Joel Coen

Fargo is a movie that depicts Murphy’s Law in total, “If anything can go wrong, it will...” Well, in this movie, it all went wrong. Thankfully, the Coen brothers were on hand to document and make this movie for us to enjoy ourselves.

The movie states this is a true story, but that can be argued since it is completely fictional. The Coen brothers claim that many of the events that took place were actually based on true events from other cases that they threw together to make one story.

The movie’s radical turn of events is something that will catch the interest of any audience, as things just don’t go as they should for anybody. The film earned seven Academy Award nominations, winning two for Best Original Screenplay for the Coens and Best Actress in a Leading Role for Frances McDormand. It also won the BAFTA Award and the Award for Best Director for Joel Coen at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.

The plot has Frances McDormand starring as Marge Gunderson, a pregnant police chief with a sharp and smart mind, who begins piecing together a case where a pair of motorists are found slain not far from the corpse of a state trooper.

As Marge continues to put it all together, more people seem to be involved in the case than there should. On the other side of events, we have Jerry (William H. Macy) who has had his wife kidnapped so he can get the ransom money, but everything just goes wrong.

Kudos to the Coen brothers for a nice screenplay, as everything that happens in each shot complements the next. The characters are well depicted and the acting is a strong A+. The movie did have its faults, there were scenes that felt totally unnecessary, and while many people may compliment the accents, I found them meaningless.

Editing was top-notch, directing to me was not so bad but I wouldn’t award it. The story too had its lapses, it took too long to pick up.

The Coen brothers are no strangers to the Academy Awards. Their 2000 movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? Was also nominated (no wins), their 2007 movie No Country for Old Men won 4 Academy Awards, and their 2010 movie True Grit had 10 nominations (no wins).

Fargo is a drama. If you are not a huge fan of dramas, this could bore you, but if you don’t mind, you will find it interesting to watch.