Review of Blood Simple (1985) by Brian D — 24 Nov 2010

If I hadn't first seen the Coens maximize their potential in Fargo, I'd probably rate this film 90-100.

The film is tightly wound, and instead of relieving tension, the violence only increases it. The fear experienced by the characters is palpable. The suspense arises naturally, despite the fact that we always know more of the bigger picture than the characters. Their emotions (fear, guilt apprehension, confusion) are convincing enough to undermine our comfortablly detached perspective, and the resulting suspense overshadows the violently bloody moments. I found myself reacting more to the suspense than I did to the numerous acts of violence, which as in most Coen films, will somehow be marginalized by their script and direction. The entire film is loaded with tension, from the early view of Marty's alka-seltzer to the last scene which zooms in on a trembling water droplet under a sink that finally drops to end the film.

The movie begins with Ray (John Getz) and Abby (Francis McDormand) talking in the front seat of a car moving down a dark, rainy highway. You never see more than several feet ahead; like the characters, you never know what's in store. The camera (and audience) is in the backseat looking over the console at their silhouettes, as the windshield wipers futilely and rhythmically attempt to clear the relentless rain -- a motif that will pervade the film. With a suspicious car following them, Abby has Ray stop the vehicle, and the mysterious car drives around them and blindly on into the forlorn darkness, without headlights (I had to rewind it to confirm this). The Coen brothers have landed, with style.

Ray and Abby's affair soon becomes apparent to us, as well as to her husband Marty. Thus begins a series of deceitful, misinterpreted, and tragic events that carry the movie through to it's almost laughable conclusion. Abby was the character with the first violent inclinations, as we see her put a gun in her purse early in the movie, suggesting she will kill her husband. Ironically, almost everyone around her devolves into the chaotic bloodfest of aggression that she foreshadows but never perpetuates. Even in the end, she is not a violent aggressor. By the last scene, the mounting confusion that plagues the movie has fallen solely on her shoulders, and we are almost begging for the movie to end so that we, or poor mistaken Abby, can get some relief. Luckily, the Coens oblige.