Review of Blood Simple (1985) by Critic_Tanner — 18 Aug 2015

Blood Simple. 1984 ★★★★.

Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Blood Simple.” is an astonishing thriller. Both on a visceral level and on a written one. The characters and plots seem to double back on themselves multiple times in a logical way, and that is what I think is the secret to its total success. It’s the type of thriller every character does something in front of the audience that seems the most logical, but with each character doing their own thing, things become complicated, and we know and remember who knows what, not because we can know what is happening, but because we want to know.

It should be a compliment to any filmmaker anywhere to know your audience wants to know what its characters know, but even then, somehow, someway, “Blood Simple.” is exceptionally interesting. It’s not a long film, running only 99 minutes, but the movie is kind of one long situation, in three different paths. One involves a Private detective, the girlfriend and her lover. The story is about a cheating wife, whose husband pays a private investigator to watch over her. Once he knows for sure, he makes the decision for him to murder his wife, along with her lover. But things don’t go smoothly. At all. It’s times like these I’d rather not reveal more of the story. But believe me, the story unfolds in an incredibly entertaining way.

The movie is also a neo noir I assume, but the movie is jam packed with rich, superbly quirky dialogue and ingenious plotting that it doesn’t have time to show off its high tech lush camera. But you do see some great light Technics in a bar, the cinematography is not showy, it only does so to be amusing for the audience to know that the filmmakers know what they are doing. It’s kind of a trust thing, confidence in the audience is giving to the filmmakers to try to impress their audience, but sooner or later, they need a story. And boy does “Blood Simple.” have one. It’s utterly fascinating, every character is given rich and dynamic lines that you’ll want to repeat to yourself after the movie’s over.

The best performances of the movie, by the way, are great. Especially from Dan Hedaya and M. Emmet Walsh. Hedaya is the kind of actor who doesn’t understand humor, and is always serious, no matter how awkward things get. And Walsh is a very peculiar one. Saying things and laughing as soon as he kills someone. That’s fascinating to me. And “Blood Simple.” has characters like that. Don’t miss it.