Fargo - help needed

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Klodomir

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Movie buffs, please help me out! I'm not good at arty-farty, so could someone please explain to me why Fargo is so great? I just watched it and it just didn't do anything for me, yet it's supposed to be one of the greatest movies of all time. I'm also wondering why it's supposed to be funny... it can't be the exaggerated Scandinavian accents, can it? I feel like a complete idiot.

(On a more positive note, I watched Withnail & I earlier tonight - now that's entertainment!)
 
Well part of the fascination for me is, I have an obsession with the upper midwest, Minnesota and the Dakotas. After many years of hoping, I was finally able to visit there and I loved it. The lay of the land and the buildings look different than on the east coast, and I find it interesting and exciting- so I'm a dweeb, I think it rules! I loved the part where they are driving through Minneapolis, it reminded me of my trip. The desolate North Dakota countryside also added to the allure and scariness of the movie.

Other than that, it is intriguing because it is based on a true story, and that always does more for me than fiction. I thought it was very intense, and interesting until the last moment. It was more entertaining than most action movies I have seen IMO.

To anyone else who has seen this, something does bug me- WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MONEY??!! Remember when he got out of the car along that deserted road and buried the ransom money in the snow near a fence? After he died, no one else knew where it was, so:
a) what happened to it?
b) how did they know that really happened? Was it discovered by some farmer after the spring thaw?
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"I was born a MacPhisto"
 
ohhh yahhh suuuure you betcha.
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I have no clue. I've never actually watched it. I know, bad me...living in Minnesota and all.
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Stormy, why in the world is this area interesting to you? lol. It's geographically one of the most boring places I've lived in. The Twin Cities themselves tho are quite nice...good arts scene, etc.
 
Originally posted by *Stormy*:
Other than that, it is intriguing because it is based on a true story,
Nah, I read that they just put that in there because people will believe anything, however improbable, once they've heard that it's a true story. Much like that crazy-murdering-cheerleader-mum film from about a decade ago.
b) how did they know that really happened?
See above.

[This message has been edited by Klodomir (edited 02-14-2002).]
 
Yes, the Twin Cities are very cool! I'm a big Vikings fan too. I love the landscape, some of it is boring and some of it is interesting. I covered the road from the Twin Cities to Fargo in 4 hours flat, flying all the way to loud rock and roll. It was great. North Dakota is so diverse geographically, from the flatter-than-Minnesota in the east to the lumpy valleys to things that look like 'zits' poking up out of the ground, (I think they may be deposits left my receding glaciers) and then the Badlands before going into Montana! In South Dakota, the Badlands are sandy and pointy and red, totally different than North Dakota's light colored rocky rounded ones. The prairie grasslands of South Dakota change from east to west, and the Black Hills are cool! I don't know what it is, I just have always had this 'thing' for Minnesota and the Dakotas. I actually wrote a novel about a rock band from North Dakota!
 
A couple of things:

1. Like Sula, I live in the Twin Cities.
2. Like Sula, I've never seen "Fargo", though I've been there several times.
3. Like Klodomir, I'm aware that this film is not based on a true story. Look here for details: http://www.snopes.com/movies/films/fargo.htm
4. Like Stormy, a 28 year-old japanese woman believed this film to be true. She came to Minnesota to search for the loot a few months ago and was found dead in the woods by hunter. Apparently she committed suicide. A truly sad and bizarre story.
 
Ohhh, I love Fargo. Maybe because I'm from Minnesota so I get all the jokes. What's funny is that is SERIOUSLY how we talk. Other than that it's dark satire. Not funy "haha!" More funny "ooohh, that's inconvieniant".

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It's the puppets that pull the strings.

*You're very kind. Most people laugh when they see my googly eye.*

+fabulous+

The Edge, it's a direct object.
 
P.S Fargo the city sucks. A lot.

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It's the puppets that pull the strings.

*You're very kind. Most people laugh when they see my googly eye.*

+fabulous+

The Edge, it's a direct object.
 
I think maybe it's just quirky, dark American humor? Hard to explain why, but I loved the film.
 
1. Valley City, ND is much better than Fargo.

2. If it is not true, someone must have a very warped mind to create such a thing. But it was worth it, it was interesting.
 
oh btw, before I forget...Lilly, spiral_staircase, and zonelistener...there is a Twin Cities U2 fan get-together planned for Grammy Night. Email me at sulawesigirl@yahoo.com for the details. And don't forget this time!!!!
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Came to Fargo 4 times over the last 2 months for work. "Food?" you ask. "Granite City" I reply.. ate 3 meals there. All very good. Unexpected by me (big city Chicago bias here). Go there. you'll like it.
 
Klodo-
Mainly the 'quirkiness' and 'idiosynracies' of the characters are what make this film so appealing.It is more easily understood in the states here.

Also William Macy the red-haired character used this film as a launching pad for his career for more 'main steam' work, along w/the wood-chipper guy-who has been in Quetin Terintino-sp movies.

Hope this helps.

Db9

[This message has been edited by Diamond The U2 Patriot (edited 02-14-2002).]
 
Great points Diamond!

Like many of the other Joel and Ethan Cohen movies (Twin Cities Natives), the quirky, "I know there are people out there like this" charachters make the movie. It's the hair-brained schemes they find thelmselves in that develop the charachter's stories. It's just good fun.

Here's the article Spiral_Staircase was talking about...the Tokyo woman looking for the loot!

http://www.startribune.com/stories/411/879249.html
 
The (somewhat) exaggerated accents were humorous but I found myself laughing most often at the foibles of the character played by Steve Buscemi. It was brutal when he was shot in the face but it was also terribly funny because his usual angry impatience was amplified ten fold.

Fargo was a great film because it was well acted all the way around and because the script was great.
 
Thanks all! Fortunately, I was able to turn the conversation to Withnail & I instead, so I didn't have to admit to not getting Fargo at all. Hmmm... I feel another thread coming on.
 
Unless you're a North American, you won't get it. The entire genius of the movie is dependant on the audience knowing about the culture/people.
 
One of my favorite movies. Love the quirky dark humor, and the accents. One of my favorite scenes is near the end when the deputy is talking to bartender, but you can't see the bartender's face because his coat is just completely covering him up. I don't know why, but I just find that hilarious. I think there are some wonderfully memorable characters in it too, especially Frances McDormand as Marge Gunderson. I just think she's amazing, intelligent, tough, kind, totally together and pregnant.

From a technical standpoint, the movie is photographed beautifully, all those long white stretches of snow in the American midwest, and the score is one of my favorites, very haunting.

I like that the movie also has a message too. Money's not the most important thing in life. The greed of most of the characters just leads to horrible death and bloodshed. Love and family are important. The ending scene with Marge and Norm is just so sweet.
 
I'm not North American, but I got it.
Not only did I get it, its one of the most hilarious movies I've seen - its an absolute gem of a film.

Why is it so good?
Its hard to say. The script is amazing and the perfomances are amazing, too.

Ant.
 
Originally posted by Johnny Swallow:
Unless you're a North American, you won't get it. The entire genius of the movie is dependant on the audience knowing about the culture/people.

Well i'm not a North American and i don't know the culture, but what me and my brother found funny is the cruel, satire humor - and the dorkyness of the two criminals. Also, i laughed at the angry, choleric personality of the small one of the criminals.
And the "jaaa"s of the police woman (Frances McDormand) cracked me up every single time!
 
Hm, so non-Americans like it too. Must be just me then. And I hated the "jaaa's". To me, a joke just doesn't get any better by being repeated 100 times.

But I just remember one funny bit... where she has a bout of morning sickness and then just stands up and says, "Well, that passed", very matter-of-fact. That did provoke a bit of a giggle.
 
Originally posted by Klodomir:
Hm, so non-Americans like it too. Must be just me then. And I hated the "jaaa's". To me, a joke just doesn't get any better by being repeated 100 times.

But I just remember one funny bit... where she has a bout of morning sickness and then just stands up and says, "Well, that passed", very matter-of-fact. That did provoke a bit of a giggle.

Actually, the funny thing was that they do talk like that in Minesota, don't they? I mean, perhaps not so exaggerated but they do speak in such a dialect... that's what makes it funny. Ever hear of the expression 'its funny because its true' - thats exactly why this movie works on so many levels. It is painfully funny, but its also horrific and really quite tragic when you think about it, all the more horrific and tragic for being true.

I mean, the English have been taken the piss out of ever since the beginning of Hollywood, and thats why now they either play really effeminate characters or really snobbish/posh villains.... but if you go down the road where I live everybody talks more like people out of 'Last Orders', did anybody see that movie? Oh well.

On another note... has anybody seen Robert Altman's masterpiece 'GOSFORD PARK'... ah, that film is terrific as well. Very funny, very sad, very British. Might not appeal to all tastes but definately for the anglophiles.

As for FARGO, the most effective/funny/horrific/surreal and disturbing mental picture that stayed with me was the one where Marge turns her head slightly in the forest and sees a man shoving another man down a sawmill, with Steve Buscemi's feet sticking out of the contraption! Now, thats something you expect out of a DALI painting, not something that actually happened in such a Christmas Card setting. Wow.

Oh, and also... the funniest scene for me was the Mike Jamakiya scene...u know the Japanese fellow who's wife just died and hence is all lonely, so he desperately tries to get it on with pregnant Marge? That scene was fantastically well written and acted.

I think I'll go watch it now...
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Ant.
 
Yes, many Minnesotans do talk that way. I still crack up (I've lived in Minn. for ten years now) everytime I hear a strong accent like that. But I do have to say, it is much more pleasant than the accent I grew up with - New Jersey (outside of NYC).
 
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