Fargo

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⭐ 10/10

A podcast I love was talking about this movie, and I had just watched True Grit, so why not rewatch the best Coen brothers movie? I have seen this one a handful of times, and every single time I love it. It is hilarious, and sharp, and basically 90 minutes long! They don't make them like they used to.

The setting here is so bleak and cold, contrasted with the quirky characters with funny accents, just the perfect Coen fusion. We have a heist gone wrong, people accidentally getting killed, and an idiot in way over his head. Basically every single scene is funny, and loaded with storytelling firepower. There is a classic scene of our protagonist Marge meeting up with Mike, an old high school acquaintance, that feels like a random scene for laughs the first time you watch it, but is actually the catalyst that leads her to unlocking the case. Francis McDormand is amazing in this role, good natured but intelligent. She leads this simple life with seemingly simple people, but also is investigating this grizzly murder! Making her pregnant is a genius move as well, every time she gets close to danger you are doubly scared for her.

The acting across the board is great. William H. Macy turns in the performance of a lifetime as this crooked idiot who is constantly lying, but his son, father-in-law, wife, all perfect as well. Buscemi is throwing some real heat as one of the outlaws that Jerry employs, wonderfully paired with a stoic quiet killer. He gets many of the best lines, and gets to be fully unhinged.

The podcast pointed this out, and on rewatch I couldn't believe I never made the comparison, but at its heart this movie is pondering the exact same ideas as No Country For Old Men. Some similar plot elements, but both movies end almost identically. The world is full of evil that our protagonists just cannot fathom. In No Country it prompts an ending of a career, but here Marge is about to bring new life into this scary world! She witnesses something truly horrific, but then that night she's encouraging and genuinely loving her pathetic husband, and artist who lives for her affirmation with no concern for what she has gone through. The same idea with two reactions, but both vocalize the same sentiment - I just don't get it.

This is a perfect 10/10 in every category, from sound to setting to acting. Every face feels hand chosen, every accented line done with love, every snowy horizon line with a never ending road perfectly shot. The whole movie is white and ends with jarring wood-chipper red. More than a dozen lines I could quote right now. I just couldn't believe how into this movie I was for every second of it, despite having seen it so many times. Masterpiece!

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