Fargo (Special Edition, DVD)

Fargo is the sixth movie by film-making brothers Joel and Ethan Coen, who between them wrote, directed and produced this, just like most of their films. I’m not that familiar with them, having only seen O Brother Where Art Thou (which I really liked) and The Big Lebowski (which was ok), but Fargo is considered by many as their finest film, and a modern American classic. Released in 1996, Fargo is a kind of dark comedy/drama, with gentle humour and a quirky screenplay, a bit like the others films I’ve seen by them. It sets the scene from the very start, with beautiful photography of snowy North Dakota/Minnesota, and an eerie landscape where you can’t ...  Read the complete review

Fargo begins with a vast snowscape, as a car slowly appears over the horizon, and a title proclaims – this film is based on a true story. Actually it isn’t, but instead comes from the minds of two of the most inventive filmmakers working in Hollywood – the Coen brothers. Because they make such efficient use of resources, and bring their films in for extremely small sums of money, the Coen brothers are in the enviable position of being able to make films free of studio control, and the results are always worth watching – funny and intelligent, without ever coming anywhere near pretension which is so often the result when filmmakers are let loose. ...  Read the complete review

note: also appears in part on Flixster and The Student Room Fargo is quite probably the Coen Brothers best film, and whilst it wasn't the film that they finally won those Oscars for, it's a film with a great, dark sense of humour, enough violence to satisfy anyone, and also, the Coen's characteristically quirky sense of humour. The film opens as Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) attempts to end his financial woes once and for all, by enlisting Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi) and his partner Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare), two thugs, to kidnap his own wife, Jean (Kristin Rudrüd), and give half of the $80,000 to the thugs and keep the other half. ...  Read the complete review

Fargo, was written, directed and produced by Joel and Ethan Coen, known to most as the Coen brothers. It was released in 1996 and in the opening credits states that it's based on a true story, but thats a ploy, it is infact completely fictional as stated in the end credits. The Coens claim that many of the events depicted in the film were based on true events from other cases all thrown together to make one story. Clever but why? Joel Coen said ~ " If an audience believes that something is based on a real event, it gives you permission to do things they might otherwise not accept". In my opinion this is ...  Read the complete review

Fargo was a movie released just before my time, I am 24 now and it was released in 1996 with an 18 certificate, which it deserves, the result of this being that I did not get to watch it at the cinema and it had somewhat passed me by. I ended up watching it on Sky a while back and recently saw it in HMV for £4, so it was a must add movie to my collection. What is disturbing about this film is that it is a true story, the events that unfold in this film actually occured in the mid eighties, due to this the directors (The Coen Brothers) make the point that all the names have been changed, but in tribute to the dead all the events have stayed exactly true to ...  Read the complete review