Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Fargo

This movie is fantastic. It is so beautifully constructed, which is ironic given the awful tone of the film. I have a lot of good things to say about this film, but I'd rather take this time to address some of the negatives I have heard about it.

The acting is top notch, regardless of whether people could stand the accents or not. Just because you don't like somebody's accent, doesn't mean you shouldn't like the entire movie. I'm not a big fan of mayonaisse, but I don't let that ruin my potato salad. I love potato salad. I'll eat that every day.

Today in class Billy mentioned that the business with the character Mike Yanagita (the crazy Chinese-American guy) was completely unnecessary. Mr Bennett then followed with the point that I was going to make, which was promptly accepted by Billy but he also added, "if they wanted to further the theme, they should have made it more relevant to the plot. This just felt like a waste of 5 minutes". This, I could understand. The original argument that it was pointless bothered me, but the conclusion we reached did not.

Ok, now here is the thing that has really gotten on my nerves since day one. Mr Bennett mentioned on the first day that Fargo is a black comedy, which is 100% true. I am not arguing that. But I think people have forgotten what exactly a black comedy is, because the major argument I hear against this film is, "it's just not funny". It's not supposed to be laugh out loud hilarious! A dark comedy is something that takes a terrible situation and adds elements of humor to lighten the mood. Yes, black comedies can have truly funny moments, but in Fargo, you should not be worried about whether or not Steve Buscemi made you laugh! You should be focusing on the terrific story, the outstanding direction, and the stellar acting. The humor is simply a side note that should not be looked upon as a major factor of the film. That would be like watching Ace Ventura and saying it was horrible because you didn't feel a connection between Jim Carrey and Courtney Cox. If you want to judge Fargo, do not look at me and say you didn't like it because it wasn't funny. Give me sound reasons. I know Benny doesn't like it because it is slow. OK, I will give him that. In most of the Coen Brothers films, there are moments that can be considered slow. I can see that. I don't feel the same way, but I understand what he means. I believe I had a conversation with Benny once where he said "if any other director films, like, a tumbleweed blowing across the desert, it's boring. But if the Coen Brothers do it, for some reason it's genius!" I get what he means, I just don't agree with it. They are, in fact, geniuses.

Yea, so, if you want to dislike Fargo, I hope it is for actual intelligent reasons, rather than the ones I've listed above. I happen to love this movie. It's just so damn funny. (<--Sarcastic remark)

4 comments:

  1. Well as for the intellectual reasons, I have plenty for disliking this movie. It aspires to be some grand meditation on the bleakness of life, but it falls short of this mark. There are movies such as In Bruges that is both a black comedy, and laugh out loud funny. So black comedies can have that kind of humor as well. But like you said, that is not the point of the movie, its just an interesting missing piece of the Fargo puzzle.I think this movie "insists upon itself" if I were to quote Family Guy, and I hate the Coen Brothers and have yet to like any of their work. Plus one of the main reasons you didn't like A Simple Plan was Bill Paxton's face!!!

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  2. Good point Benny about Bill Paxton's face. Nick, I want to know, if the Coen Brothers directed A Simple Plan, would you like it? My guess would be that you would like it more!

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  3. I played up the whole Bill Paxton's face angle a little too much I do admit lol. In reality, the fact that I don't like Paxton had very little to do with my dislike of A Simple Plan. I found his performance to be very commonplace and the movie itself was boring to me.

    To answer your question Jimmy, if the Coens directed A Simple Plan, then their take on it would have probably been a lot better. However, if they directed it and it was EXACTLY like the way it is now, the only difference being the Coens name credited, I would not change my opinion. That would be extremely biased and unfair. I would say that it was a rare flub for the Coen Brothers who are often a lot less obvious in their direction.

    Also Benny, your point about In Bruges makes sense. However, most black comedies are not like In Bruges. The next film we are watching in class, Dr. Strangelove, is a black comedy, but I'll be surprised if you (or anyone in the class) laugh out loud at any of the jokes. Yet, Dr Stranglove is one of the best black comedies ever made because of its dead point satire (I truly believe that, and am not going with popular opinion).

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  4. I figured you weren't that biased Nick but I wanted to make sure, because I know that I can sometimes like or dislike a movie based on certain elements. I personally found some of the Fargo elements to be laugh-out-loud funny and I don't think it is fair to judge a comedy on if you laugh out loud. Satires are subtle!

    I didn't want to imply that you were that biased but it was more of a question.

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