Blood Simple. (1984)

I've seen so many movies having a quite similar subject with the one I'm writing about, that I honestly didn't remember if not this one is also among them. So, I was a bit undecided if to see it or not because even though I have a series of movies about which I know for sure I watched but I don't recall much from them, I'm trying to avoid seeing again when I have another choice. Obviously due to the lack of time. Well in the end I was more certain anyway that I didn't see it, so despite what's above I've chosen "Blood Simple" from '84, the first movie by Coen Brothers over a newer one. And I can't say that I regret this ( maybe just the hour when I watched it :) )

The similar subject I was mentioning is something like: first, we have a small american forgotten town where the population count is probably a number with 4 digits (or at least that's the impression you get; in "Blood Simple" you don't know more than it's somewhere in Texas .. if I'm not missing somehing). Second, we have a bar in that town, or more exactly a bar owner (or if it's not a bar owner - in this movie he is - is another character with more or less unorthodox behavior who's a bit more rich than the rest of the surrounding cohabitants). Number three, the guy has a wife (younger and good looking) and they don't really get along anymore, or even if they do he's paranoid enough to be willing to put her locked in a cage due to jealousy. Number four, in whole this context appears another guy who eventually gets involved in a reltion with the overpriced object above (= the wife, if it's not clear). Number five, somebody is paying somebody ( not necessarily one of the the three ) to kill somebody, and from here the whole story gets complicated. What's more to say is that usually a variable percent ( between let's say 40 and 99 %) from all the characters have their IQ proportional to the town dimension. Well, I've seen all this context, with some variations, in {Red Rock West", in "U-Turn" and I think also other titles, and obviously also in "Blood Simple.".

I won't say more about how the above "template" fits to the current movie, it just does it almost perfectly. Especially the IQ part, although it's not that obvious from the start. What I can tell, without revealing too much is that it takes a while until all this context is set, but starting from number 5 and after the movie gets into the alert phase. Initially you'll tend to think that it's more a comedy (actually it is in part, a dark one). You have the typical Coen Brothers humor (quite similar with what you have in "Burn After Reading"), which makes that the first part of the movie to be pretty "relaxed" to say it so. Well, what this actually does is to amplify the effect of what's coming. And what's coming starts from a scene which seemed to me pretty hard to digest. I will just say that if you've seen "Casino" by Scorsese you'll know what to expect because we have something somehow similar in there. Still, that one for me, probably also due to the age I was when I've watched the movie, is one of the gruesome scenes I've ever seen, due to the fact that it's pushed to an extreme which doesn't get out from the credible ranges (for instance what you have in "Saw" is clearly unplausible and exaggerated which cuts something like 70-80% from the impact on the audience in my opinion). Anyway, getting back to "Blood Simple" ... for me this is the bad part of the movie = I didn't receive it very well, but I have to admit that it proves effective for what's following. Because what's following starts with the impression created by this scene. And even if it keeps a subtle humor drawn mostly from the mentally healthiness of the character, the rest of a movie comes with a load of tension which grows and grows until it reaches a climax at the end (that's why, how I was saying at the start of the entry :) probably 1 AM is not the best hour to see the movie). It has something from Hitchcock in it, so probably it doesn't quote him just randomly. So, to be more clear, due to the way the action develops the movie becomes (at least for me) scarrier than a horror, and that's pretty much due to the fact suggested above = the violence and the situations are relatively plausible or actually not that much as plausible than as possible (as in not exaggerated).

The movie has a really beautiful cinematography. I've been surprised to see that behind the camera was Barry Sonnenfeld about whom I had no idea that he had done also this in his career. The guy is probably most known as a director ("Men in Black" 1 and 2), but I really think that he should have stuck to the camera. You have a variation of frames + angles which fit perfectly with how "loaded" gets the atmosphere. I think I've seen something similar "Shining", but I don't remember much. The soundtrack is also perfect for the context, and I really started to like Carter Burwell although it seems it's pretty much exclusively for his collaborations with the Coen Brothers (after seeing "True Grit" and the one from here), because for the rest I'm not really of the opinion that he qualifies on the current top line of composers (= Mansell, Zimmer, etc) ...

Anyway, what's the main thing to appreciate is the editing + the directing + the script; it's another example, although chronologically the first that what comes from Hollywood and has written Coen in this 3 places deserves with a rate of 80 % certainty to spend the time on it (it still remains something like 20 % with the way too overrated "No Country for Old Men", "O Brother Where Art Thou", and I hope these are all not to destroy the percentage :) ). What I was saying above about the tension it creates it's pretty much due to the editing and to the directing (and the script brings the humour part which is more than necessary to not jump above the limit with the rest). Even if still a part of the movie seemed to me a bit over the limit, finally I can't to do else than just appreciate that the result is what it wants to be, and fortunately for the viewer it sets a quite high level compared to most of the movies you're presented on a current basis.

Rating: 4 out of 5