{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"162: The Coen Brothers: "Fargo"","description":"This week on Story Web: the Coen Brothers\u2019 film Fargo. I suppose I must have a dark sense of humor indeed to think of the Coen Brothers\u2019 film Fargo as a comedy \u2013 even if I do realize that it is a dark comedy. I mean, what can you say about someone who shrieks, then laughs uproariously, at the woodchipper scene? Yes, Fargo is a weird and dark tale \u2013 from William H. Macy as Jerry Lundegaard, the pathetic car dealership manager who pays two sleazy criminals to kidnap his wife, to Steve Buscemi as the \u201cfunny-looking guy\u201d in that criminal pair, from Frances McDormand as Marge Gunderson, a pregnant police detective, to Steve Park as Mike Yanagita, the high school classmate who visits her in one of the film\u2019s many bizarre scenes. All of the actors in the movie are outstanding, but my favorite by far is McDormand, who also happens to be married to Joel Coen and who acts in a number of the Coen Brothers\u2019 films. Apparently, I am not alone in my assessment of McDormand\u2019s portrayal of Marge Gunderson, as she won a Best Oscar Actress for this role. Part of what made Fargo fascinating and compelling to me when I first saw it was the film\u2019s opening claim that it is based on a true story. The viewer sees the following text on screen: This is a true story. The events depicted in this film took place in Minnesota in 1987. At the request of the survivors, the names have been changed. Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it occurred. But as it turns out, the story may not actually be true \u2013 or then again, it may be. The Coen Brothers have both asserted that it is true and laughed off questions about its veracity. As Ethan Coen says, \u201cYou don\u2019t have to have a true story to make a true story movie.\u201d Learn more about the truth or fiction of Fargo by visiting Snopes, the Huffington Post, and Film School Rejects. Now if you haven\u2019t seen Fargo, I don\u2019t want to give anything away. Suffice it to say, watching Fargo won\u2019t be your average viewing experience. And as you watch events unfold, you may be thinking, \u201cShe finds this funny?!\u201d As I said, it\u2019s a dark sense of humor that draws me to this film. Fans of the Coen Brothers\u2019 other films will know what I mean. From one of their earliest films, Raising Arizona, Joel and Ethan Coen have shown themselves to find humor in the strangest of settings. I know people who are such ardent fans of Raising Arizona that they can recite virtually every line, and that is even more the case with their cult classic The Big Lebowski (anyone for a White Russian?). Probably their \u201cbiggest\u201d film to date is O Brother, Where Art Thou? It stars George Clooney as a modern-day Ulysses on an odyssey through the Depression-era South. Of course, laughs are once again in big supply. To dig deeper into Fargo, check out The Atlantic\u2019s in-depth consideration of the film that \u201cbrought it all together\u201d for the Coen Brothers. You can watch a television interview with the Coen Brothers and Frances McDormand about Fargo, and you\u2019ll also enjoy a short video about the seven things you probably didn\u2019t know about Fargo. A great deal of dialogue from the film can be found at Wikiquote. To go all scholarly on the film, check out The Coen Brothers\u2019 Fargo, a Cambridge Film Handbook. To think more fully about the Coen Brothers\u2019 long career in filmmaking, read The New Yorker\u2019s assessment of their work. A three-minute video tribute to their many films is also available. You might also find it interesting to read Ian Nathan\u2019s new book, The Coen Brothers: The Iconic Filmmakers and Their Work, or Mark T. Conard\u2019s book The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers. Also useful is a collection of interviews with the Coen Brothers. Of course, Fargo was so successful that it spawned a TV spin-off twenty years later! There are mixed reports about whether the Coen Brothers like the television series, but for my money, the original film is all you need. If you want to add Fargo to your DVD collection, consider buying Coen Brothers Collection, which includes Blood Simple, Fargo, Miller\u2019s Crossing, and Raising Arizona. Or you might just want to stick with the special edition DVD of Fargo. Visit thestoryweb.com\/fargo for links to all these resources and to watch the scene in which police detective Marge Gunderson (played by Frances McDormand) says, \u201c\u2019m not so sure I agree 100% with your policework there, Lou.\u201d However you watch Fargo, just be sure to laugh. It\u2019s not all grim and macabre \u2013 at least not to me! ","author_name":"StoryWeb: Storytime for Grownups","author_url":"http:\/\/storyweb.libsyn.com\/webpage","html":"