The Coen brothers are the undisputed masters of merging varieties of tones to create a style that can only be called Coen-esque. For the entirety of their careers, the Coens have shown a love to pull the rug out from under viewers, leaving us unsure of where any given moment might go. Theyre not afraid to insert a moment of laugh-out-loud comedy into a sequence of extreme tension (Anton Chigurgh is a funny dude when he wants to be) or to suddenly have a comedy interrupted by shocking violence (The Oceans 11 reunion in Burn After Reading goes poorly). This was never put to better use then in Fargo, a home-spun murder story that masks a black, twisted heart beneath funny accents and quirky dialogue. Fargo is not a comedy, or even a comedy-drama. The thick accents and stylized patter may distract you, but Fargo is a film about the incredibly petty reasons behind people committing atrocities against each other, and the even pettier ways that those actions spiral outwards beyond control. Jerry Lundergaard (William H. Macy) just wants to get out from under his debt, but to do so he enacts a scheme that will rip apart his entire home and family. And thats just if the plan went RIGHT. It goes wrong, of course, and by the time the final shot is fired an entire community has been tainted and sprayed with blood. Quite literally, in some cases. All over money that will never even be claimed. These characters should count themselves lucky though, as this is one of the few times the Coen brothers allowed decency to survive, and morality to go untainted. The denizens of No Country for Old Men would have no such luck. MOST HORROR MOMENT: Most people would say the woodchipper, and with good reason. But the moment that best illustrates this films intentions comes earlier, in a single, silent shot which shows William H. Macy sitting in his car, staring at a dead body he helped create. And then he opens his trunk. Moral decay complete.
Brendan Foley is a pop-culture omnivore which is a nice way of saying he has no taste. He has a passion for genre movies, TV shows, books and any and all media built around short people with hairy feet and magic rings. He has a Bachelor's degree in Journalism and Writing, which is a very nice way of saying that he's broke. You can follow/talk to/yell at him on Twitter at @TheTrueBrendanF.
