Monday, October 17, 2016

Film Review - Blood Simple (1984)

Blood Simple is the debut film for the Coens brothers and this one takes place in Texas where Ray (John Getz) is having an affair with Abby (Frances McDormand) the wife of a local bar owner (Dan Hedaya) who is not happy and hires a private detective (M. Emmet Walsh) to investigate their affair and possibly murder them.

Blood Simple is a terrific film and while I was watching it I felt like I was watching a great page turning novel put on film and where every element of the film (the editing, direction, camerawork, sound, music and performances) comes together into a beautifully cohesive whole and while it can feel like a slow burn at times it only makes the scenes of violence feel more impactful and more earned in the story and they made me wince a little I have to admit.

The performances are quite good with McDormand, Getz and Hedaya doing very adequate work but Walsh is the show stealer here with his bulky presence adding a real sense of dread to his character who does not muck around when he's on the case, the film also looks gorgeous with many strong visual colours and beautiful lighting in the films many night scenes (the scenes during the day do take away from the impact of the visuals of the film.)

As for the Coens themselves they do terrific work here and while watching this film I thought that this film really felt cohesive in a way that some of their recent films have not this year's Hail Caesar being one of them which while being one of their funny films got too silly for me just as Inside Llewyn Davis was probably a little too maudlin for their serious work whereas this film combines their serious and funny sides really really well perhaps in a way they have not quite been able to do since when they got more money to spend and won Academy Awards and having to answer to studios and producers.

And so that was Blood Simple a fantastic 80s noir that is well worth watching, 4 and a half out of 5.

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