Okay, yeah! Sure! You betcha, you know? Yeah…

Fargo (1996)

Repeat that for a good two days, and you’ll know what it’s like living with me after watching this movie.

Fargo is, most probably, a perfect blend of noir and comedy. In theory, that’s like having the perfect homogeneous mix of oil, water, egg, and latex paint: it canna go, Captain!

Yet, it does here.

Imagine the perfect template for a film noir, using whatever example you wish. Now hand it over to The Brothers Cohen, and they shall very carefully change every single aspect of it they can which doesn’t alter the outer shape or each of the principle features of the story style. Voilà! You have Fargo!

Full of ludicrous – yet entirely plausible – details, every performance in this is perfect. No, seriously, perfect. If you haven’t watched this before, do it.

Saying anything more would spoil the experience.

Don’t believe the statement at the start of the film, though: the filmmakers didn’t base it on a real event, but on two entirely separate events, both of which only vaguely resemble what was finally included in the film.

Fargo (1996)

Directed by
Joel Coen plus un-​credited Ethan Coen

Writing credits
Ethan Coen and Joel Coen

This year, I’ve been watching DVDs from the library for a number of reasons, mostly to do with a combination of “filling in the gaps in my ‘pop culture’ knowledge”, as well as a concerted effort to better understand story editing by both watching a film and then re-​watching listening to people who have studied that particular movie for years in order to better appreciate the themes, plot construction, symbolism, and so on.

The process would be nothing without the secondary audio tracks. Sometimes it’s like having actually been through the film-​making process with the people involved.