Fargo is a crime drama set in the northern states of Minnesota and North Dakota. It inhabits the world – a world the Coen brothers grew up in – with a fervor and passion that rarely comes through in their other films, which is probably because the Coen brothers typically keep their films at an arm’s length, preferring to analyze their characters under a microscope rather than emoting through them. The two biggest factors at play here is the snow and the accents. The snow makes Fargo look like one of the most beautiful things ever put to film. The opening shot of the movie is one of my favorites in all of cinema. It’s just snowy white as the camera waits for a car to come into view (though it’s so covered in snow, that until you see the car, you can’t even be sure you’re looking at a road). All that is visible prior to the car is a bird flying across the screen, however, you can’t even be sure that it is a bird – the image is so dark – except for how it moves. That image, plus Carter Burwell’s score that is based on a Norwegian folk song called, “Den bortkomne sauen”, or “The Lost Sheep”, sweeps you up into the story. You have no idea where you’re going, but you’re all in for the ride. The accents is the other key factor. Most of the characters speak with what is called the “Minnesota nice” dialect – think, “Yah, you betcha” and “Aww, geez”. It’s very grounded in the geography and culture in the north, very Scandinavian in its attempt to sound self-deprecating and understated. It also makes the film surprisingly funny that there are murderers running around talking this way – a little off-kilter, maybe, but that’s why you watch a Coen brothers movie.

Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) is in deep, financially. He’s been fudging the numbers of vehicles sold at the car dealership he works at. His solution is to bring a real estate deal to his father-in-law, hoping he’ll finance it for him. His backup plan, however, is to hire a couple of guys, Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi) and Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare), to kidnap his wife so his father-in-law will pay the ransom and Jerry, Carl and Gaear can split it. Carl and Gaear do their part and kidnap Jerry’s wife, but as they make their escape to Moose Lake, they kill a Highway Patrolman and a couple of witnesses. This puts Brainerd police chief, Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand), who is seven months pregnant, on the case. Unfortunately for Jerry, Carl and Gaear, Marge is the best there is, and she catches little details that her fellow officers easily miss, putting her hot on their trail. Carl calls Jerry and demands the entire sum they were intending to split because of the murders. Jerry tells his father-in-law that the kidnappers want a million dollars and will only deal with him, however, his father-in-law refuses to let anyone other than himself handle the money. Carl meets with Jerry’s father-in-law in a parking garage and the two shoot each other. Jerry’s father-in-law dies and Carl is bleeding from his jaw, but makes it out. He investigates the briefcase full of money, discovers it actually has a million in it, and pulls off to the side of the road where he takes out $80,000 to share with Gaear (the amount they originally agreed on with Jerry) and buries the rest in the snow, hoping to come back for it. When he returns to their cabin at Moose Lake, Gaear has killed Jerry’s wife because “she wouldn’t shut up”, and the two argue, leading Gaear to kill Carl with an ax and dispose of the body using a woodchipper. Marge shows up during this, already having the state police arrest Jerry in a motel after he fled from work, and shoots Gaear in the leg and arrests him. Marge returns home to her husband and they cuddle and talk about his day.

“This is a true story. The events depicted in this film took place in Minnesota in 1987. At the request of the survivors, the names have been changed. Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it occurred.”

Sorry to burst anyone’s bubble, but no, it’s not. Fargo is entirely fictional, even though some viewers speculated that the story was based around T. Eugene Thompson, an attorney from St. Paul, Minnesota who hired a hitman to murder his wife. Thompson’s story is not well known outside of the Twin Cities area, however, the Coen brothers were raised in the same area, where it is in fact a local historical fascination. The Coen brothers originally said there was a true crime story that inspired their story, though the story itself was completely made up, but since then, they have gradually admitted that there is no particular crime they looked to for inspiration and that Fargo is completely original. They have also denied even knowing Thompson’s story at all. So, then why put a fake disclaimer at the beginning of their movie? Something that Joel Coen said in an interview with Time Out may shed some light on this. He is quoted as saying, “If an audience believes that something’s based on a real event, it gives you permission to do things they might otherwise not accept.” Okay, fair, but then what do the Coen brothers want us to accept that’s so otherwise outlandish? Is it the image of a leg hanging out of a woodchipper? Perhaps. Is it the tenacity of seven-month pregnant police chief amidst unspeakable evil? Less likely. Or is it the outright ineptitude of every single character in the film outside of Marge? More than likely, it’s this. There is a Yiddish word for the types of characters that make up Fargo: “schlemiel”, not to be confused with “schlimazel”, and for those who don’t know the difference – “a schlemiel is somebody who often spills his soup and a schlimazel is the person it lands on.” The Coens have made a career of making movies about schlemiels (and schlimazels, though less often are their characters not responsible for their misfortune), and Fargo is no different. But where other Coen brothers films have a comical air about them, Fargo is taken rather seriously (though you can surely still find things to laugh about in the film) because of a few short sentences before anything appears onscreen.

Bonus Review: In Bruges

Like Fargo, In Bruges is a black comedy disguised as a crime drama. Director Martin McDonagh made his debut with this film, having previously made a career in theatre as a playwright. As such, his films feel very play-like, as in they’re relatively contained in regards to location, and the characters are (perhaps intentionally) overdramatic. He is also known for a very Irish form of absurdist humor in his works, and his collaborations with Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson. Besides In Bruges, he has also made Seven Psychopaths, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and The Banshees of Inisherin – all of which have received critical acclaim and are lauded for their characters and sharp blend of humor and drama. Being a playwright first and foremost, his characters are beautifully painted and complex, which also means that under his direction, his stars shine. The chemistry between Farrell and Gleeson in In Bruges and The Banshees of Inisherin is more than enough proof of that.

Ray and Ken are two hitmen that are instructed to travel and wait in Bruges for further instructions. Ken loves Bruges and the peacefulness and beauty the city bears, but Ray is bored and complains frequently about how awful Bruges is. We soon find out that the reason for their sabbatical in Bruges is because of a hit gone wrong for Ray. He was required to shoot and kill and priest, and in doing so, also killed an altar boy. Ray befriends Jimmy, a dwarf working on a movie set nearby along with Chloe, the film’s production assistant. Ray and Chloe go to dinner where Ray gets into an argument with a Canadian couple whom he mistakes for Americans and beats them up. Harry, their boss, calls Ken and tells him to kill Ray, claiming that even though it was an accident, killing the boy was unforgiveable. Ken attempts to carry out his task, but when he finds Ray, Ray is about to kill himself over his guilt, so instead, Ken stops him by taking his gun away and tells him what Harry wanted him to do. Then, he gives Ray some money and tells him to get on a train and go somewhere to make a fresh start. Ken then reports back to Harry the truth, infuriating Harry, who is then immediately on his way to Bruges. Ray gets on the train, but it doesn’t get very far as the police have caught up to him regarding the assault on the Canadian couple. Chloe bails him out of jail and the two go for drinks near a church. Harry meets with Ken and tells him, almost boastingly, that if he had killed a child he would have killed himself right then and there. Ken argues that Ray deserves a chance at redemption. They continue their conversation as they make their way up the belltower at the same church that Ray is near, but when they reach the top, Ken says he will take whatever punishment Harry wishes to administer. Harry shoots him in the leg for his insubordination and leaves him up in the belltower while he makes his way down to kill Ray. Ken, seeing no other way to alert Ray to what is coming for him, jumps from the belltower to his death. Ray and Harry have a chase and shootout through the streets of Bruges, ending near where that film is still under production. Harry shoots Ray multiple times, but one of the bullets ricochets and hits Jimmy who is dressed for a scene as a schoolboy. Thinking he just killed a child, Harry turns the gun on himself despite Ray’s protests. Ray is carried to an ambulance, though he had been shot several times, and his fate is left unanswered.