Review of Blood Simple (1985) by Yahya A — 04 Mar 2012
The first of many brilliant masterworks to come. So this is about an adulterous love triangle that comes to a head when blood money becomes involved with a shady fourth party. I've said it before and I'll say it again: nobody makes crime thrillers like the Coen brothers.
They are my very favorite directors, bar none, and watching their directorial debut, it makes the rest of their filmography make perfect sense. Because they are easily the filmmakers that get me the most excited, I celebrate their entire library, but it has been a good four or five years since I've last watched this, and wow, I forgot how dripping with tension this is.
A lot of the credit for that has to go to the genius sound editing, and with there being barely any onscreen dialogue for the majority of the second act, it really is a big deal. There is raw intelligence taking place right before your eyes, and the sheer craft of it will have you on edge the entire time.
It's a delicate situation that goes from bad to worse, and it is plain to see what a precursor this is, with shades of Fargo and No Country for Old Men all over the place. There's no big budget sheen to this, and this ranks alongside Following and Pi as one of my favorite directorial debuts.
This review of Blood Simple (1985) was written by Yahya A on 04 Mar 2012.
Blood Simple has generally received very positive reviews.
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