Film Review With Sam Larner

Fargo 

Fargo is a 1996 film made by the Coen brothers who have directed other gems such as “No Country for Old Men” and “Blood Simple”. Fargo follows a middle aged man called Jerry Lundegaard who embarks on a plan to kidnap his wife so he can get some of the ransom money from her rich father. Now this is a plot that had I thought of it, I would’ve sat for days on end basking in the reflective glory. It is the perfect plot.

As with all Coen brothers films, there is a lot of dark comedy in the film, mostly revolving around the heavily pregnant Swedish/American cop Marge Gunderson, who is drafted in to solve the kidnapping. She speaks in an apparently typical North Dakotan accent which is a mix of Swedish and American phrasing, although I must admit I’ve never heard of this kind of speech and there is some debate about whether it actually exists. However it provides lots of moments of comedy throughout the film.

Another great asset of the film is the two incompetent kidnappers played by the brilliant Steve Buscemi and the idiotic Peter Stormare. They initially appear as dangerous but probably under the surface quite harmless but as the film goes on and they start making mistakes you realise that these two are deadly and I would argue the best “double-act” in a film.

The first time I saw Fargo, I absolutely loved it and it went straight into my top 10 list. The second time I saw it, it went even further up the list and into my top 5. I really think it is a brilliant, quirky and intriguing film that tries to do a lot and succeeds. I would recommend it to anyone, because if you like horror then it has some of that, if you like humour then it has that and if you just like watching great films then it definitely has that. A brilliant film.