Film: Fargo
Release date: March 8th 1996 Budget: $7 million Cast:
Summary: A twist on the typical thrillers we are used to seeing. This film is about a seemingly "normal" man that begins to dig a hole that becomes so deep he just can't get out of it. The film begins with this man; Jerry Lundegaard being in dept to some people and by trying to fix this problem in taking advantage of his father in law he just creates this chaotic mess for himself. He plots to have two men Carl Showalter and Gaear Grimsrud kidnap his wife without anyone else having knowledge of this to get money from his step father. Needless to say, it all goes to hell and blood is shed. Plot: Its a cold brutal winter in 1987 in a small town in Minneapolis where Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) a car dealer is desperate for money. With help from a good friend Shep Proudfoot (Steve Reevis) he is introduced to two convicts (Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare) that he hopes will help him in fixing his dept. He tells them that he will do an exchange with them and so long as they help him he will give them a car, specifically a Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera and half of the money that he would be getting by his wife being kidnapped. What happens though when this plan comes to play is that Gaear in Sheps defense when they are stopped by a local cop shoots the cop and witnesses is that a local police chief Marge(Frances McDormand), who is pregnant begins to investigate these homicides. Marge is married to a kind man (Norm) who is eager to get his artwork to make money for a postal stamp. Though Jerrys plans were to go and do the trade himself to get the money and scam his stepfather, his stepfather decides to go himself and Carl out of anger and mistrust shoots him to death and takes the money. With the $1,000,000.00 in the briefcase he stops off the side of the road and leaves a certain amount for himself to trick Gaear and keep more money for himself. However Gaear sees through him when Carl arrives with the money and once Marge arrives to Moose lake she finds the stolen car and quickly runs into Gaear feeding the last parts of Carls body to a wood chipper. Marge then shoots Gaear and arrests him and following that Jerry is found at a motel by the cops. That same night Marge goes to bed with Norm who informs her that his stamp didn't make the 29c he was hoping for and Marge simply tells him that they have a great life and she is very proud of him and can't wait for their child to arrive. Critique/Analysis: This film consists of a combination of tension and comedy with moments of pure silence. It is a very still film with tension and full of hurt and worry because of the struggle after struggle. The tension also came from the lighting and the moods could become quickly shifter being that the nights were very dark and the daytime wasn't just light but completely white so that you couldn't really see the division between snow and sky. The way the characters spoke definitely brought a ton of comedy to this thriller. Reminded me a lot of The Shining and had Hitchcock written all over it. One scene that seems to have an indirect message is when Marge meets with an old friend, shines light on the relationship she has with Norm and the immense love they have for each other. Not only did Norm and Marge bring a sense of calm to this film but so did the dissolving from scene to scene.
1 Comment
Carol
7/28/2022 04:06:27 pm
Go Bears.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |