Blood Simple

I was fortunate enough to see a double feature of Blood Simple and Fargo at the Castro Theater, one of the awesome old school theaters in San Francisco, two weeks ago.

Blood Simple (1984) - 8.5/10

First Viewed: 3/2/08
The Coen Brothers (Dir.)
Barry Sonnenfeld (DP)
Starring Frances McDormand as Abby; John Getz as Ray; Dan Hedaya as Julian; M. Emmet Walsh as The Private Detective

Blood Simple is a very good movie and for a director's debut, it really is a great achievement. The cinematography and editing are generally excellent, Carter Burwell's score is one of the few 80's synthesizer scores I enjoy, and the story is often enthralling. The climactic sequence involving Frances McDormand, a hand, and a knife is particularly memorable.

The film begins with a conversation between Abby and another man, Ray, who is driving a car in the middle of the night. We soon learn that Abby is married to the rather psychotic bar-owner, Julian, and that Ray, one of his bartenders, is her lover. Julian sends a private detective to spy on his wife and the situation unravels from there.

The major theme of the Coen Brothers' work is communication, or rather the lack thereof. This is what causes Abby to leave Julian in the first place. All of the various misunderstandings culminate in bloody endings for many of the characters. This is an intriguing theme that isn't as effective as it could have been. At some points, it is painfully obvious that this is a debut. For example, the camera movement sometimes draws too much attention to itself, such as a crane shot that moves over a drunk guy sleeping on a counter in order to track into a conversation. Also, the premise of the film's middle act is that Ray thinks Abby has killed Julian while she thinks likewise. For some reason, this aspect is not engaging or very well laid out and as a result, the middle meanders and the characters' motivations do not make sense until the finale.