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Storyline
Oscar winning film from the Coen brothers that takes place in the snow covered wasteland of their home-state, Minnesota. A clueless car dealer, Jerry Lundegard, stages the kidnapping of his wife in order to get money from his father-in-law. However, it doesn't take long for his plan to start unravelling. |
Backdrops
The Director
Joel CoenAmerican filmmaker Joel David Coen is known for writing, directing and producing films jointly with his brother Ethan Jesse Coen professionally they are known as the Coen brothers. In 1984, the brothers wrote and directed Blood Simple, their first film together. The film received was well received and won awards for Joel's direction at both the Sundance and Independent Spirit awards.
The brothers were recognized for their talents having been nominated for a number of awards, and achievements. No Country for Old Men (2007) won them the Oscar for Best Achievement in Directing, and Best Motion Picture of the Year, as well as the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Film Award for best director. They were also awarded the Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen in Fargo (1996)
Joel has been married to actress Frances McDormand s ince 1984. They adopted a son from Paraguay, named Pedro McDormand Coen
User Reviews
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Viewing Fargo for the AFI Project
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From May 26, 2008:
What's the AFI Project, you ask? For more information, or if you just enjoy my bemused ramblings, read here: http://www.spout.com/blogs/pippin06/archive/2008/3/1/25756.aspx
Fargo is on the following AFI lists:
The Original Top 100 (#84)
100 Funniest Films (#93)
100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains (Marge Gunderson is the #33 hero)
Fargo was actually the next entry on my Netflix queue as well, which has suffered severe neglect at the hands of a surprisingly busy May schedule (just finished a run of Kiss of the Spider Woman at a local community theater) and the end of the TV season. I do love watching things...but I digress. Fargo also marks the first official movie that I haven't "revisited" to check off an AFI list. I had never seen it until just now, so that's fortuitous indeed.
Fargo is one of those films that everyone seems to love. I remember watching the actual Oscars ceremony when it earned gold for screenplay and for Best Actress Frances McDormand. It was all the rage. Of course, in my estimation, it was far more entertaining than The English Patient, which won Best Picture that year.
Still, I find myself oddly un-wowed by what I just saw. Don't get me wrong, it's a good little film with layers and levels as those wacky Coen brothers are wont to include. It's also one of the most effective minimalist undertakings I have ever laid eyes on in cinema. It's just not one of those movies that left me thinking it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, and, believe me, it's been advertised that way.
Fargo, as in North Dakota, appears but once in the movie: at the very beginning, where the viewer finds Jerry Lundergaard...
View full review
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reviewed by Pippin2010 (Filmaster.com) on the 9th of February 2010
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I generally dislike "comedies"; I prefer movies that simply use comedy as a cinematic device just like any other, and that's something the Coens do better than most. I mean, Fargo isn't really a comedy. In some ways it's more like a tragedy. But the way it balances the two "genres" -- and in the process shows how they're more closely connected than we usually realize -- it manages to become both, and neither. Or something like that.