Date: Fri 12-Apr-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Location: A-10

Quick Words:

Playing-Fargo-Buscemi-Coen-Now

Full Text:

(rev "Fargo" for Now Playing, 4/12/96)

Now Playing-

Coen Brothers' Latest, `Fargo' Keeps Up With Recent & Disturbing Trend

By Trey Paul Alexander III

Last week, acclaimed screen actress Greer Garson, an Oscar-winner for her work

in the 1942 drama Mrs Miniver , died at the age of 92. Her view of today's

films, taken from a 1990 interview, echoed in my thoughts, particularly after

I viewed Fargo , the latest effort from the talented team of brothers Joel and

Ethan Coen. Garson said: "I think the mirror should be tilted slightly upward

when it's reflecting life - toward the cheerful, the tender, the

compassionate, the brave, the funny, the encouraging... and not tilted down to

the gutter part of the time, into the troubled vistas of conflict."

Fargo , which has been playing at the Bethel Cinema for a few weeks and

continues this week, is probably the most well-reviewed motion picture

released thus far in 1996. Nearly all critics have raved about it. But

Garson's words seem to directly apply to this film. Those familiar with the

Coen brothers' work know they come at life from a slightly skewed point of

view. Fargo is no different.

The setting is the snowy Midwest. Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy), a mousy,

insecure man, has concocted a kidnapping plot in order to procure the money

his wealthy father-in-law scantly doles out to him. His twisted plan is to

hire two flunkies (Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare) to abduct his wife and

then blackmail his father-in-law for an amount which would be split by

Lundegaard and the goons.

In many ways, Fargo is a slice of mundane life. Lundegaard is no mastermind,

but a car salesman of shady repute who stammers his way through every

conversation, barely able to hold his ground with testy customers able to see

through his oily tactics. The film is overwhelmingly populated by dozens of

Midwesterners whose vocabulary ("Oh, geez!") and accents ("Oh, ya betcha,

yah!") is irresistibly unassuming and would fit right in with those Canadian

wonders, Bob and Doug McKenzie of "SCTV" fame. But the mundane is skillfully

turned into the surreal when events go awry.

The perception of the kidnappers as comically inept turns sour after their

"harmless" mission begets three dead bodies. Carl (Buscemi) screams to

Lundegaard over the phone, "Blood has been shed!" declaring that the ante has

been upped. Blood which brings the film's most fascinating and original

character, police chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) into the mix.

Gunderson is the rural equivalent of the rumpled Columbo. This intrepid,

pregnant cop surveys the grisly crime scene with laid-back but focused

precision, her energies evenly balanced between thorough detective work and

scouting out the next food joint for her frequent binges (this woman can

eat!). McDormand is wonderful, and the role is a gem, fitting perfectly into

the white, frozen wasteland which serves as the stage for the antics of this

black comedy.

However, the many merits of Fargo were hounded (for me, anyway) by its

oppressive emphasis on the "black" in its comedy. Not only does the body count

mount in the film (which is rated R for sexual situations, profanity and gory

violence), but the method to that madness is disturbing (besides grisly

gunplay, a wood chipper comes into play). Getting back to Garson's statement,

why are so many current filmmakers insisting on putting the macabre into full

view?

Garson wondered why modern movies stare into the troubled vistas of conflict.

Well, solid, tense and interesting drama can only come from some degrees of

conflict. And when we speak of films as reflecting the real world, it is easy

to see that violence and the macabre are unfortunately a part of this world;

just tune into CNN or your local news for proof.

The lingering gaze of the cameras upon the blood and guts of increasingly

seedy subject matter, both in films in general and Fargo in particular, is

excessive and disturbing.