Fargo

Fargo is a 1996 thriller/crime film directed and written by Joel Coen. The film was also written alongside his brother Ethan Coen. The film is set in Fargo, a tate of North Dakota. The film is based around a car sales man, Jerry Lundegaard who hires 2 men to kidnap his wife. The kidnap is all part of Jerry's plan to get an $80,000 ransom of his father-in-law, the ransom is to then be split between the 2 men and Jerry.

The film starts off with a longshot of a very snowed up road. The long shot shows time passing by as a car is being filmed getting closer and closer. The long shot is cut with a small tracking shot of the car towing another car. There is also music alongside this shot, the music is very big and dramatic however it could also be seen as a bit sad and content. The music is a composed piece of what sounds like classical music, however it is made more dramatic through the drums which are introduced. When Jerry walks into the pub to meet the 2 men his hired the music is suited to the conversation. The conversation is very dark and menacing, this contrasts to the music as the music is very dramatic.

The first proper scene we see is set in an old bar in Fargo. The bar is set out just like a proper one, with people playing people and other customers having a drink. This makes the scene more realistic. The lighting in the bar is very dark and dim. Having the lighting dark and dim creates an atmosphere that tells the audience things aren't right between the characters and something is going to happen. The bar also has a smokey atnosphere to it because Gaear Grimsr (Peter Stormare) is sat there no intention of listening to what Jerry and the other kidnapper are talking about, he just sits there half asleep with a cigarette in his mouth.

The film is set in Fargo, North Dakota. Here the climate is very cold which means there is a heavy snow fall. This results in all the out door set scenes are all around or in snow. The snow makes the film more interesting. It's more intresting because it is more attention-grabbing when someone is murdered or gone missing. Having snow as one of the main features of the film creates the tension of finding the missing persons as it is harder for the police to find them. Knowing where the film is set also makes the film feel more realistic and dramatic. This is because the plot is based around a true story, the will make the audience more aware and intrigued.

I enjoyed what i saw of this film. I got really interested into what was going to happen with each of the characters. The storyline made me what to know what was going to happen next. I didn't really think there were any boring parts to it, however there were some scenes which should have been a little shorter as they got a little bit dragged out. I think that the snow and the music made the film. This contrasted with what was going on in the film and helped tell the story.