Fargo - Too Good to Be True

Sometimes I write scripts in my dreams.

It usually happens figuratively - my brain screens a near-complete movie for me that I then spend the next dozen waking hours attempting to transcribe (and yes, more often than not, it dissipates in the growing daylight as my less-easily-impressed conscious mind sees through all of its holes and flaws). Occasionally, however, I will dream that I am literally sitting in front of a notebook or typewriter, suffering over dialogue and story beats in a way that is only marginally more successful than my conscious attempts.

During one such dream, I wrote what was unquestionably the best work of my life. It was tightly-plotted and yet also managed to follow the awkward rhythms of real life; it saw both the inherent humor and inevitable tragedy within the unrelenting violence and ugliness of the world; it was just as strange and outlandish as I could make it while also feeling wholly honest, natural, and lived-in.

It was the perfect script. 

It was my masterpiece.

It was Fargo.

That realization slowly dawned on me as I rolled out of bed and scrambled for the nearest pen and I had to concede that not only had my nocturnal masterwork been written already, but long-since fully produced to near-universal acclaim.

Flashback to the summer of 1994. Me and my brother are being led by our grandparents through Mackinac City, a tiny tourist hamlet at the top of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. Ensconced within naively uninterrupted tranquility, we begin to wonder what the police force here would do if they were ever faced with a truly dangerous breed of criminal. To this day, my brother playfully rues the fact that we weren’t able to capitalize on that premise first.

It is partly the simplicity of that “what if?” that makes the film so successful - a crime story unraveling within a society that exists in hilariously quaint contrast to the more grisly machinations of its antagonists. We are able to both laugh at and yet also identify with the homespun simplicity of the main characters just as we are able to loathingly enjoy and yet also sympathize with Jerry Lundergaard’s frantic attempts to keep his boneheaded schemes from falling apart around him. That duality, the fact that we are rooting for Lundergaard to both be caught and to get away with it, speaks to the genius of the film. And yet the true stroke of brilliance is the (fictional) opening title assuring us that the film is based on a true story. Aside from giving the Coens carte blanche to follow their plot down any road they could possibly dream to take it while still maintaining narrative credibility, it gives the gruesomely hilarious proceedings the air of that great American pastime of true crime schadenfreude while also lending even the most despicable of its characters a human core that makes it difficult to hate them even when they're laughing as their helpless victims attempt futile escape in the snowy wilds or hacking their partners into bits and shoving them into wood-chippers.

The setting of the story in such a specific place, aside from lending comedic heft to the proceedings, also helps the film to achieve a universality that speaks towards its popularity and continued endurance. This is a world so removed from most viewers' that it may as well take place on a different planet, and yet the corners are painted in with such intricate detail that anyone who watches it can relate. We may think that we're laughing at these goofily polite Minnesotans, but we're really laughing at ourselves, struggling with tireless, often witless fortitude against the cold indifference of the universe to the erosion of even our best-laid plans.

It's possible that, had me and my brother struck a deal to sell or develop our idea right there on the shores of Lake Superior, we may have been able to craft a finished product so nuanced, so profound, and so entertaining.

On the other hand, it's probably a good thing that the Coens got to it first.

- cs

Christopher Sailor is the Programmer of Education for the Atlanta Film Festival. He also waxes cinematic at chrissailor.com  

 Fargo screens this Thursday, October 17th at 9:30pm and Sunday, October 20th at 1:00pm as part of our Fall Focus on Directors. Members get free admission to every screening in this series, so if you're not currently a member, be sure to rectify that.

Fall Focus on Directors - Joel & Ethan Coen

Joel (l) and Ethan Coen (r) have been successfuly making highly original films on their own terms for nearly thirty years.

Upon accepting one of the three Oscars that he and his brother would each collect for their 2007 masterpiece No Country for Old Men, Joel Coen harkened back to some of their earliest childhood efforts - including "a movie about shuttle diplomacy called Henry Kissinger: Man on the Go" - and confessed, "what we do now doesn't feel that much different."

There is no further explanation than that needed for the enduring cinematic success of the Brothers Coen. Indeed, the pair cannot help but frustrate the critics and interviewers who would attempt to glean some explanatory insight into their process, some trick for keeping their cinematic odysseys from ever growing stale or uninspired, because there is no secret. They are merely a pair of brilliant and talented guys who have honed their storytelling gifts and followed their own interests without deviation for the entirety of their lives, let alone for that of their 30-year careers as filmmakers. They are a testament to the fragile promise that if an artist stays true to their own vision, no matter how personal or specific, the audience will not only find you but follow you anywhere. 

You will be hard-pressed to find filmmakers with an output that has been, by every definition of the word, as consistent as that of the Coens. At an average of one film every other year, with only one arguable stumble during that whole span (Ladykillers defenders, make your presence known in the comments!), the Coens are mystifying in their ability to hop so effortlessly over lines of genre and tone while maintaining a level of quality that leaves their fans in constant awe and delight . 

And they're only getting better. 

Atlanta Film Festival 365 is proud to present local cinephiles a chance to view a sampling of the Coens' best films on the big screen. We're starting with their debut feature, Blood Simple, this Thursday at 9:00 with an encore Sunday afternoon at 1:00. An equal mix of James M Cain and EC Comics, the film shows how fully-formed the skills and sensibilities of the brothers were right out of the box. It's also the first instance of the duo giving their unique twist on the Film Noir genre, a thread that continues through the rest of the series as we present No Country for Old Men on October 10th and 13th, Fargo on October 17th and 20th, and The Big Lebowski on October 24th and 27th.

Showtimes for all screenings are 9:00pm for Thursday shows and 1:00pm for Sunday matinees. Don't forget that members get in free, so tell all of your non-member friends to buy a pass to this year's festival and enjoy some of the best movies of the last 30 years on us. I'll be in the center row, grinning like an idiot the whole time, and I hope to see you there.

- cs

Christopher Sailor is the Programmer of Education for the Atlanta Film Festival. He also waxes cinematic at  chrissailor.com.