Fargo
Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Writer: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Cast: William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare, Frances McDormand, John Carroll Lynch, Kristin Rudrüd, Harve Presnell, Tony Denman, Steve Reevis, Larry Brandenburg
Seen on: 15.3.2015

Plot:
Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) has a business plan and a foolproof way of getting the money for it: he hires Carl (Steve Buscemi) and Gaear (Peter Stormare) to kidnap his wife (Kristin Rudrüd) and extort money from his father-in-law Wade (Harve Presnell). But even before they can act out the plan, things start going wrong and pregnant police woman Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) takes up the investigation.

I haven’t seen Fargo in so long that I still watched it in German the last time I saw it (I’ve avoided dubbed films for about 15 years now). I still remembered the film quite well and I still love it. It’s just a wonderful black comedy.

It’s amazing how little Fargo has aged. It really has this timeless quality. I mean of course they don’t use the technology we have now and that is kind of obvious, but then again that’s one of the main reasons that the film feels so free-floating in time: because they are not using some kind of archaic cell phones and because they’re generally not wearing the newest fashion etc.

But even if it had aged, it would still be an amazing film, with a perfect combination of actors and roles in the enitre ensemble like I’ve rarely seen it. Though Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare and Frances McDormand are particular stand-outs.

Speaking of Frances McDormand: I can barely express how much I love Marge. She’s smart, she’s competent and she does her thing without any fuss at all. That she’s pregnant and thus giving the world a pregnant woman who is still able to think and work and is not reduced to the baby she’s carrying, and that she gets to work and have a completely supportive husband who isn’t overly protective is an added bonus that makes the film so much better.*

All of it is rounded off with a screenplay full of witty dialogue and an idiocratic sense of humor. What is not to love about that?

Summarizing: Perfection.

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*That that is missing from the TV show is probably the main reason I hated it so much I didn’t even make it through the second episode.