Fargo

http://www.cinematical.com

A movie well-reviewed in its time that seemed to keep being mentioned.

At last a movie that filled me with pleasure and kept selling me more and more full. The Francis McDormand character is irresistible, in part because of her hugely pregnant belly, which has an effect similar to that of the bandage on the nose of the Jack Nicholson character in Chinatown: it ratchets up the sense of the character’s vulnerability in a visceral-feeling way. Her relationship with her semi-hapless husband is an exquisite touch. Here’s a movie involving both murder and comedy that doesn’t go too slowly or prod the viewer too bluntly. The two kidnapper-murderers are hilarious, as is their relationship. This is a movie that believed in itself in all its complexity, and as a result the characters glow, and the tension, constantly tempered by surprising laughter, keeps getting higher and higher.