Review of Blood Simple (1985) by Matthew B — 29 Aug 2010
Blood Simple is a competent sliver of modern noir and, more so, a foreshadowing of future Coen Brothers ventures - Miller's Crossing, Fargo, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and even No Country For Old Men, films which tend to run on rather tenuous plots supplanted by commanding, overripe character development.
Dan Hedaya (a veritable pile of sleaze as cantina proprietor Julian Marty) and Frances McDormand provide unaffected, compelling performances, but M. Emmet Walsh dominates as the simpering P.I.-turned-assassin Loren Visser.
His confrontation with McDormand's Abby in the film's gut-wrenching finale (as nail-bitingly intense as Leo's "Danny Boy" killing spree in Miller's Crossing, the Carl Showalter-Wade Gustafson showdown in Fargo, and Anton Chigurgh's motel massacre in No Country For Old Men) is as functionally perfect a display of cinematic violence as any of the melees in the filmography of Sam Peckinpah.
Taught and gripping.
This review of Blood Simple (1985) was written by Matthew B on 29 Aug 2010.
Blood Simple has generally received very positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
