There's darkness, and then there's bleakness, and this movie has got plenty of both. This is a very absorbing story. There is no question that the performances and the realization of the story are both brilliant. It is enormously effective in creating a tone of dreary hopelessness. There is an impending sense of dread about the movie. So, it is very involving. At the same time, the sum does not quite equal its parts for me. I always felt concern for the characters, but they still seemed distant to me. Even though the protagonist (Ree) is dealing with life altering situations, somehow the movie maintained an air of a horror film, even though it is not a horror film. So, even though the story is very human, the story still seems distant. I cared about the characters, but in a very different way then usual. The care I have is best channeled through the children in the film. It is almost as though there is a doorway that Ree has passed through and the children haven't, and the innocence the children enjoy on their side of the door gives us hope. Meanwhile, Ree's insistence that the children stay innocent and protected make her heroic.
The story follows Ree, a 17 year old who has come to be all but the mother of her younger brother and sister. Her mother is mentally ill and out of commission, and her father has left them. He used his property to acquire a bail bond, so the family is now in danger of losing their home. Ree begins trying to find her father, but the more she looks. the more the local hierarchy of underworld drug lords begins pushing back. In the end, she is forced to continue her search simply in order to survive and take care of her siblings.
Jennifer Lawerence is so convincing in her role. This is a movie that easily could have descended into stereotypes, but it does not. Instead, it shows these people for who they are, warts and all. And yet I still can say I felt a certain disconnect in the movie. This movie takes place in my home country, yet it couldn't feel more foreign in many ways. Perhaps that is the power of the film. Even though I felt distance, I still appreciated the eventual hope that comes in the film. Again, I can appreciate the innocence of the little children in the film, as they play in the back yard, unaware of the nightmarish reality around them. That's quite a tribute to what makes this movie special.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Fargo
"Where do you live?" "Minnesota." "OH YEAH YOU BETCHA"-Many conversations with folks over the years have ended up going like this. I think a lot of that comes from this movie.
This film has grown to be so storied and impersonated that I wonder if some have forgotten just how good it really is. People immediately go into the accent, and immediately think that those of us who live here had never considered that people here talk that way. Do people talk that way here? It depends. In the cities (what we call Minneapolis and St. Paul here), there is not a thick accent, for the most part. But longtime residents have it, and when one ventures outside the metro, one can hear a pretty thick accent on display.
When I saw the movie for the first time, it seemed that the Coen Brothers were making fun of the dialect. I doubt that. Instead, I think that they are using the dialect to create this world. This world only works if there is an overt folksiness to the people in the movie. Only in that world will the horror of the acts committed by the people in the movie be truly stark.
The film follows Jerry Lundegard's (William H. Macy) bumbling attempt to extort money from his father in law. He recklessly hires two thugs to kidnap his wife and then put a ransom on his wife. Jerry is then convinced that his father in law will cough up the money to the thugs who will in turn give him the money he needs to solve his financial woes. Unfortunately, things do not go smoothly, and when the thugs commit murder in Brainerd, MN, the town police chief Marge (Frances McDormand) is called onto the case.
The savagery of the crimes of the hired thugs is a contrast to everything else in the movie. Even the blood shed on the frozen tundra is stark, as the blood flows onto the white winter wasteland. But even more effective is the way the inhuman acts contrast to the simple human decency of Marge and her husband. Marge is 7 months pregnant (don't ya' know), and the love of her husband for her is part of the deep texture of this movie. The dialect of the film is part of the world, and therefore, not overdone. Of course there is exaggeration and caricature, but that is used in order to evoke more basic things about Minnesota. Also, the omnipresence of cold is on depicted. The cold in Minnesota affects every aspect of life, and this is on full display here.
It is a story told so well. As the Coens went on to glory years later with "No Country for Old Men", this film is left behind a bit. Every scene is brilliantly written and realized, and the longer I live in Minnesota, the more I appreciate what they did with it. Of course the accent is overdone, but isn't that what movies do?
This film has grown to be so storied and impersonated that I wonder if some have forgotten just how good it really is. People immediately go into the accent, and immediately think that those of us who live here had never considered that people here talk that way. Do people talk that way here? It depends. In the cities (what we call Minneapolis and St. Paul here), there is not a thick accent, for the most part. But longtime residents have it, and when one ventures outside the metro, one can hear a pretty thick accent on display.
When I saw the movie for the first time, it seemed that the Coen Brothers were making fun of the dialect. I doubt that. Instead, I think that they are using the dialect to create this world. This world only works if there is an overt folksiness to the people in the movie. Only in that world will the horror of the acts committed by the people in the movie be truly stark.
The film follows Jerry Lundegard's (William H. Macy) bumbling attempt to extort money from his father in law. He recklessly hires two thugs to kidnap his wife and then put a ransom on his wife. Jerry is then convinced that his father in law will cough up the money to the thugs who will in turn give him the money he needs to solve his financial woes. Unfortunately, things do not go smoothly, and when the thugs commit murder in Brainerd, MN, the town police chief Marge (Frances McDormand) is called onto the case.
The savagery of the crimes of the hired thugs is a contrast to everything else in the movie. Even the blood shed on the frozen tundra is stark, as the blood flows onto the white winter wasteland. But even more effective is the way the inhuman acts contrast to the simple human decency of Marge and her husband. Marge is 7 months pregnant (don't ya' know), and the love of her husband for her is part of the deep texture of this movie. The dialect of the film is part of the world, and therefore, not overdone. Of course there is exaggeration and caricature, but that is used in order to evoke more basic things about Minnesota. Also, the omnipresence of cold is on depicted. The cold in Minnesota affects every aspect of life, and this is on full display here.
It is a story told so well. As the Coens went on to glory years later with "No Country for Old Men", this film is left behind a bit. Every scene is brilliantly written and realized, and the longer I live in Minnesota, the more I appreciate what they did with it. Of course the accent is overdone, but isn't that what movies do?
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