WELCOME TO THE WEB'S LABYRINTH OF TRANSGRESSIVE CINEMA
FARGO: SE (1996)
MGM BLU-RAY
d. Joel Coen; pr. Ethan Coen; scr. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen; ph. Roger Deakins; m. Carter Burwell; ed. Joel & Ethan Coen (as Roderick Jaynes); cast. William H. Macy, Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare, Harve Presnell, Kristin Rudrud (98 mins)
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The Coen Bros' Breakthrough Popular Hit
The Coen Brothers are now virtually enshrined in American film as the most provocative team working generally outside of the Hollywood establishment.
Following the unexpected critical success of the stylistically mannered Barton Fink the independent duo were, however, poised to possibly approach larger audiences and revenues. Thus, their quirky follow-up The Hudsucker Proxy was expected to do extremely well – it was certainly their biggest budget to that date – but when it proved a major box-office flop the duo subsequently returned to their low-budget origins for Fargo, which proved to be their least stylized and flamboyant work. It also ironically proved to be the critical and popular success that cemented their place in the industry – with this film they had finally “connected” with a vast segment of American movie-goers, at least as “vast” as would attend a Coen’s movie. Although they have done numerous works since, it is somehow the confluence of critical and popular acceptance in the case of Fargo, more so than any of their other exceptional films, that has entered cinema lore. As a result Fargo remains somewhat beloved amongst American film enthusiasts. Even those who would normally disagree about the Coen Brothers’ merits as filmmakers can usually find some common ground when discussing Fargo. As such, it is truly one of those films that warrant a special DVD edition.
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Synopsis (contains spoilers)
Fargo claims to be inspired by a true murder story but this is a fabrication on the part of the filmmakers, the movie being pure fiction despite the claim to authenticity.
In his breakthrough role, William H. Macy stars as a car salesman who hires two odd men (Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare) to kidnap his wife and hold her for ransom. He plans to get his father-in-law to give the ransom to him to give to the kidnappers, but only after he has removed the majority of the cash for his own private investment scheme. However, his hopes start to disintegrate as he loses control of all circumstances. His father-in-law likes the investment opportunity and soon wants to take it out of his hands. When the kidnap proceeds, the two kidnappers are stopped by a policeman on the road. Soon, there are also possible witnesses to this roadside skirmish and the kidnappers must act accordingly: a shooting incident results. A local policewoman (Frances McDormand), heavily pregnant, is thereafter on the case. She methodically follows the few leads as, meanwhile, Macy now has to deal with the kidnappers wanting more money than originally agreed upon or his wife may actually come to some real harm. His father-in-law is also moving in, wanting to deal with the kidnappers personally. The clues soon lead McDormand to Macy’s workplace. Although it all spirals down for Macy, he still believes that he can emerge victorious.
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Desperate, Failed Aspirations of the Ordinary Dreamer
This film is full of what is emerging as the dominant theme in the Coen Bros’ works – the failed aspirations and quiet desperation of discontented dreamers unable to control their own ambitions and desires.
In that respect Macy here essays a man, like John Turturro’s Barton Fink, who believes he is, or should be, something more than he is at present and whose later efforts to set his self-aggrandizement in motion come crashing down around him. The type is also thus a forerunner of Billy Bob Thornton in The Man Who Wasn’t There, the film wherein this theme is perhaps most crystallized. On other levels, these are comedies of desperation, with both horror and amusement at the way in which intended events disintegrate, proving that people are indeed helpless against circumstance. There is a sense of self-deception running through these works as that belief in oneself as something other than what reality has proven is the tragi-comic flaw of the Coen protagonists: it is Fargo that ironically made this potentially despairing theme palatable, in essence going against the vast grain of Hollywood feel-good product. Indeed, the Coen’s are so intent to control mood that it surprised many to find just how funny yet bleak Fargo is – a true comedy of despair. For sheer mastery of tone, style and subject Fargo is exceptional and undoubtedly one of the finest American movies of its decade.
Macy is a man impelled to cross the line, finding only that he can never return nor escape from the repercussions of his selfish and inhumane ambitions.
Hence, the emphasis is not necessarily on the details of the investigation but on those scenes that show human nature as flawed and in a process of disintegration – except perhaps the marriage between McDormand and her husband, which remains the lone reference point for goodness, decency and love (if not exactly passion) throughout the morally collapsing world – it is in this that there is hope to be found. Indeed, the audience responded with overwhelming positivism to McDormand for she is the movie’s humane core. However, the narrative emphasis on unfair, collapsing and disintegrating humanity is ironic, funny and disheartening and is handled in a departure from the established Hollywood formula in that it gives time to scenes with little plot movement but considerable texture. Yet, beneath the ordinariness of these people there is a sense of their strangeness and desperation, of people never able to make their peace with the world, with McDormand a “together” person in that she seemingly has done this as much as is possible (although there is even a hint of the illusory in her cautionary optimism). With such a subject as human desperation there is always a fine line between comedy and tragedy, and Fargo essays it brilliantly.
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Cold Winters in Middle America
Thankfully, the distributors have done a mostly outstanding job with this 16:9 enhanced widescreen Blu-Ray transfer.
The required sense of human desolation is ideally represented in the white expanses of the mid-Western winter, where the distinction between sky and land is obscured in an almost abstract snowfall. Blacks are deep and the opening shadowy barroom interiors give little sense of warm solace from the inhospitable world – likewise the interiors of Macy’s American home offer a flatly-lit security but are easily shattered and destroyed by the chain of events he sets in motion. Colours are deliberately muted, surfaces polished and icy in this rich and detailed transfer. Most times, the film in design and use of location captures a deliberate ordinariness, preserving a sense of an almost bland yet secretly desperate Middle America. Costume is appropriately suggestive of bad weather as much as it is of the human need to protect itself and even insulate itself emotionally and physically. Match cuts are used to amusing effect in the film, perhaps indicative of destinies intertwining. Likewise, desolate nights broken by penetrative headlights on the highway are well used in a key scene wherein murder becomes the point of no return for these characters. Winter has always been evoked to underlie the notion of human desolation but its use here is truly remarkable and the transfer is more than up to the needs of this film.
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Crisp, Precise and Authentic
The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound transfer is fine, fully in keeping with the needs of the movie. Much of it is quiet and low key although the unusual score adds melancholia and regret to an offbeat sense of comedy.
It is a careful transfer, with delicate levels and subtle, if minor, spatial effects (almost as asides) that make for a subtle immersion. Voices are always clear and resonant, the mounting desperation in Macy particularly evocative of a man losing it all despite himself. McDormand is the emotional anchor here although there is much humour in the pairing of Buscemi and Stormare, the former a non-stop chatterer and the latter a man of mono-syllabic utterances – the cross-talk juxtaposition is quite funny (and a trick also well used by director Jim Jarmusch in Dead Man). As usual for the Coens, dialogue is stylized. Beyond that, the simple details, weather effects and a stress on rather plain but well-rendered sounds add to a sense of natural ordinariness. It is arguably stylized but in a very deliberately low-key manner, suggestive of despair. In quieter, reflective moments, the transfer clarity is optimum, with nothing to distract from the achievement of these scenes and their subtle use of naturalistic background noises to add authenticity. Single noises amidst the stillness add an effective and shattering quality. Cars on icy roads have a unique sound in this film and the grind of a wood chipper at the end is a disturbing effect.
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Deluxe Special Features Package
There are numerous special features on this Special Edition including two trailers, a TV spot and an interactive “Coen Family Tree” segment which charts the subsequent careers of actors whose paths have crossed the Coens.
There is a behind-the-scenes photo gallery, the text of an article from American Cinematographer magazine about Roger Deakins, with much about the noted cinematographer’s collaboration with the filmmaking brothers and his deliberate stress on visual “blandness”; but it is written in very technical, insider terms. There is an interview with the Coens wherein they talk of the “true story”, on working with each other and on how they pre-plan and storyboard extensively (to control budget in part). Featured is some discussion from McDormand about her character and its popularity. In addition is the behind-the-scenes documentary “Minnesota Nice” about the lore of politeness in that region of America, the calculated nature of the film (as McDormand describes it) and on the rhythmic scripting and deliberately stylized approach to dialogue. Macy discusses how important the film was in terms of his career and further describes his working experiences with the Coens. Also mentioned is the importance of a regional feel, the treatment of violence in Coen movies (described quite tellingly as the laugh of discomfort) with Macy aptly calling the film “a gentle touch on a violent story”.
There is also a commentary track by noted cinematographer and frequent Coen Brothers collaborator Roger Deakins.
He devotes much attention to the filming process and how key shots and scenes were achieved. He discusses his joint working methodology when with the Coens and on how the brothers favour the pre-production process. Fargo is talked about as more observational and restrained in style than previous efforts by these filmmakers who here deliberately strove for the sense of bland Middle-America as a key to the film’s effectiveness. Deakins subsequently discusses the Coens’ directorial approach in terms of its simplicity and coverage style and of the difficulties of working in weather that proved to be too good for the harsh effects the filmmakers had initially wanted. Deakins also discusses the importance of storyboarding in the filming process, a stage the Coens seem to rely upon quite heavily. In addition to the commentary track is a “trivia track” which enables the viewer to see the film accompanied by a series of pop-up text boxes offering some snippets of information covering scattered facts about the film, region and locations, the people involved and isolated minor details. Sometimes, however, this information is of only borderline relevance to the film itself and indeed thus truly trivial. Either way, it is an unusual entertainment as a special feature, almost like a text-based commentary track.
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USA BLU-RAY PURCHASE INFORMATION: Fargo [Blu-ray]
UK BLU-RAY PURCHASE INFORMATION: Fargo [Blu-ray] [1996]
AUSTRALIA BLU-RAY PURCHASE: N/A
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