Fargo tells the alleged true story of a 1987 kidnapping gone awry, in the freezing cold environment of Fargo, North Dakota. Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) is a down-on-his-luck used car salesman who works for his no-nonsense father-in-law Wade Gustafson (Harve Presnell). Jerry is in desperate need of money, and arranges to have his wife kidnapped in order to exhort a large ransom from Wade. However, the two bumbling thugs he hired (Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare) kill a state trooper and two witnesses while making their getaway. As Jerry anxiously tries to get Wade to comply with the kidnappers’ demands, the situation keeps getting worse, and small-town Brainerd, Minnesota cop Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) is quickly uncovering the trail of clues the kidnappers left behind.
 

I originally saw Fargo when it was released in the theater, and don’t recall being particularly fond of it at the time. However, with the upcoming Fargo TV series on FX, I wanted to revisit the film, and I’m really glad I did. Fargo is a unique blend of humor and violence, set in a world with quirky, charming and overly-polite characters with funny accents.

At its core, the film focuses on exploring these unique characters, and even though their accents may be over-the top, the characters still feel very much grounded in reality. The filmmakers have taken the time to pepper the film with seemingly-mundane scenes—like talking about breakfast, watching TV, or Margie picking up nightcrawlers for her husband—which serve to help temper the craziness.

Frances McDormand, who earned an Oscer for her performance, is delightful as the pregnant local cop Margie Gunderson. While at first her accent or overly-polite attitude make her seem like a rube or a pushover, you quickly discover how intelligent and charming this woman is. All of the characters in the film have this very straightforward manner of speaking that adds humor to every situation, even when the film gets a bit violent. The rest of the cast is also great, giving their characters depth and seriousness, but also adding just enough humor.

The film looks and sounds great on this remastered Blu-ray release. The picture is crisp and clear, and doesn’t look like a film that’s close to 20 years old. And the soundtrack makes great use of all of the audio channels to bring the viewer into the experience.

All of the same bonus features from the 2009 Blu-ray release have been ported over to this release—ll of which were originally created for the 2003 Special Edition DVD release. While it would have been nice to see something new for this remastered re-release, but all of this material was new to me, and I found it really interesting—especially the 30-minute Minnesota Nice documentary. I found it fascinating that all of the dialogue from the film was completely scripted, even down to the last “Yah”. It was amusing to learn that Peter Stormare thought his line about the “Pancakes House” was just a typo, and when he read it as “Pancake House”, the director immediately noticed and corrected him.

Overall, I was really pleased with the film, and fell in love with the characters and world it sets up—it made me really excited to re-enter this world via the new FX Fargo TV series in a couple weeks!

What’s Included:

Film: (1:38:14)

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 1.85:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English Surround DD 2.0, Spanish DD 5.1, French (Quebec) DD 5.1, French DTS 5.1, Castillian DTS 5.1, German DTS 5.1, Italian DTS 5.1, Portuguese DD 5.1, Hungarian DD 1.0
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French, Castillian, Dutch, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Thai, Turkish

Extras:

• Audio Commentary with Director of Photography Roger A. Deakins (1:38:14)
  Director of Photography Roger A. Deakins talks about working with the Coen brothers and the actors, and provides a technical behind-the-scenes discussion of the locations, and how the cameras and lights were layed out to shoot the different scenes of the film.
• Minnesota Nice Featurette (27:47)
  Originally created for the 2003 Special Edition DVD release, this retrospective documentary finds the cast and crew talking about the film and the fun they had making it. In addition to giving behind-the-scenes tidbits, they also discuss the casting of the film, the characters, the setting, the dialogue, the violence, and the humor of the movie. Features interviews with producer/co-screenwriter Ethan Coen, director/co-screenwriter Joel Coen and actors William H . Macy (“Jerry Lundegaard”), Frances McDormand (“Marge Gunderson”), Peter Stormare (“Gaear Grimsrud”), and Steve Buscemi (“Carl Showalter”). I found this really interesting and entertaining.
• Trivia Track (1:38:14)
  When enabled, trivia about the movie, filmmakers, actors and locations pop up on the screen as you watch the film.
• American Cinematographer Article (3:05)
  “Cold-Blooded Scheming” – Roger Seakins, ASC, BSC teams with Joel and Ethan Coen for the third time on Fargo, a tale of kidnapping gone awry in the chilly clime of Minnesota. by Chris Probst
  Manually step through the pages of this article, or select the Auto Advance option to have the page auto-update every 5 seconds (though no one could possibly read each page that quickly!).
• Still Photo Gallery (5:50)
  Manually step through this gallery of production photos or select Auto Advance option to have the slideshow auto-update every 5 seconds.
• Theatrical Trailer (1:58)
• TV Spot (:32)

Final Thoughts:

Fargo is an excellent film filled with charming and delightful characters and is set in a unique, interesting world. While it does get violent at times, this is offset by the film’s humor. If you already own the previous Blu-ray or DVD release, you won’t find any new bonus features. However, this release does boast an amazing-looking remastered picture. For new folks, do I recommend you pick this up? You betcha!