Film Review: Blood Simple (1984)

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(source: tmdb.org)

Making the trailer before the actual feature film is a trick not that uncommon in today’s cinema, although it is used mainly by the authors of quirky independent comedies with outrageously bizarre plot concepts. Many decades ago, the it was used by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen before the actual production of their first film, 1984 crime drama Blood Simple, nowadays known as one of the most critically acclaimed films of its time and the splendid first entry in Coens’ impressive filmography.

The plot is set in provincial Texas town and deals with four characters caught in the web of deceit, treachery and murder. Marty (played by Dan Hedaya) is relatively well-off bar owner who suspects his wife Abby (played by Frances McDormand) of having an affair with Ray (played by John Getz), one of his employees. Those suspicions are confirmed when shady private investigatoir Lorren Visser (played by M. Emmet Waksh) delivers photos of two lovers caught in the act. Ray feels deeply hurt and humiliated and, after some time, he hires Visser again, only this time he asks him to murder Ray and Abby. Visser, however, decides to double cross Marty and steal his money. This action later creates series of fatal or near fatal misunderstandings between Ray and Abby, with each lover convinced that the other one has committed serious crime.

Made for 1.5 million US$, Blood Simple is low budget independent crime film very much like those worshipped by critics even before Tarantino made them "cool" for general audience. Despite meagre financial resources, Coen Brothers have gathered impressive collection of talents for their feature debut. Cinematography was provided by Barry Sonnenfeld who would later become successful director in his own right. Composer Carter Burwell has brought minimalistic but effective music. But even more impressive seems to be small group of very talented actors in four main roles. Dan Hedaya is great as sinister-looking, angry and jealous husband. Peter Getz is somewhat less formidable, but still effective as generally kind-hearted man who has the misfortune of interpreting circumstances in the worst possible way. But the most impressive of them all is M. Emmet Walsh as utterly sleazy, amoral and violent private detective whose narration and wise-cracking one-liners provide much of humour to this dark story. Joel Ethan’s wife Frances McDormand in her feature film debut is also very good, despite playing the simplest character and the only one with whose actions audience might sympathise with. Despite collection of such great talents, Blood Simple still looks like someone’s feature film debut and its general impression suffers after comparisons with Coens’ later triumphs, more notably Fargo with which it shares some elements of the plot. This is mostly due to script which is still rough around the edges. Coen Brothers were mostly interested in couple of iconic, dark and very violent scenes and they built the "noirish" script around it. The characters are unrefined and archetypal and only stick in viewers’ memory due to great acting. Tight editing and relatively short running time, however, makes Blood Simple into very effective film that could be recommended even to those viewers who care little about film noir or the most celebrated film making duo in recent history of American cinema.

RATING: 7/10 (++)

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