I just saw Fargo and I thought it was great. It is a black comedy that tells the story and a messy crime gone wrong.
Going into the first thing that stood out to me was the cinematography, the film is in color but it still goes back and has homages to the colors of the classic noir films. The film itself is a very loose example of a film in the neo noir genre, at least in terms of the way that I see it, but the influence is definitely still present. Anyway, going back to the cinematography, the majority of the film has an incredibly white background that almost feels oppressive at times due to how much of the screen it takes up and the context of it sometimes being heavily snowing in scenes.
The scenes most closely related to the crime seem to have this the most, at least that is what I noticed. There is also the scene that is the complete opposite where three people are killed, that scene specifically because of the dark nature of the actions and morality of the characters involved.
This is something I will definitely be keeping in mind while filming my piece, since the piece is much more self aware now I have scenes that are both in and out of color, so we will see where that goes but even if I choose only one or the other, having these oppressive backgrounds is still a great touch.
Another aspect of the film I thought was great were the characters, the way they bounce off of each other is great and was always engaging. Their exchanges also led to a lot of comedic moments simply in how they say the lines or with what they talk about. The film is definitely a black comedy and most of it comes from the dialogue. The opening scene of the film in a bar I say is a pretty good part that kind of represents the whole movie in terms of the type of comedy present and how frequently it occurs. That being said, there are moments, especially towards the end when the film leaves the comedy in order to create a more sinister tone that speaks about the messiness of the situation the characters find themselves in. I don't know why but I loved Steve Buscemi's character, I just thought he was really funny and his way of going about things added a lot to the scenes he was in. He kind of just yells a bunch at everyone and is constantly rude but I feel it is great to include that considering what he does later on and what it means for the story. His character is where I ended up feeling the most comedy as well.
The last thing I liked was more towards the story's portrayal and how realistic it felt. The criminals are rude and incompetent in some areas, Jerry is an idiotic moron that isn't used to any stressful situation and Marge is a police that, even though she does catch a criminal while seven months pregnant, spends most of her time talking to people instead of going out guns blazing. The film itself does take its time, which is something I appreciated and it made the areas where the film started going places fast all the more exciting. This is another reason why it feels so realistic, the story is slow and people often wait for things to happen and when they do it almost comes as a surprise.
Even though I saw the events that happen in this scene coming I still was surprised, but more about how nonchalant Steve Buscemi's character was.
There are a few things I will be able to take from for my piece, the one I am most excited for is the cinematography, I think it adds a lot to the film and can be used a foreshadowing device if done correctly. Another thing I think about is more about how the characters act as a whole, I can't really describe why the character's reactions to things works so well but I will take the time to figure it out for my piece.
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