For those who like crime drama with heavy doses of film noir, find the miniseries Fargo and watch it. Its ten hours, and about 8.5 of them are brilliant. Billy Bob Thornton should win every acting award available. And if youre used to Martin Freeman from Sherlock, The Hobbit, or even The Office (U.K. version), his role as Lester Nygaard will give you a new appreciation of his range. Colin Hanks, Keith Carradine, Oliver Platt, and Bob Odenkirk also have supporting roles. The main character is played by Alison Tolman, an actress I didnt know but who carries the role beautifully. How beautifully? I think this miniseries is better -- *much* better -- than the Coen brothers movie of the same name. The makers dialed down the quirkiness and amped up the menace. In fact, the quirkiest character in his way is Thorntons Lorne Malvo, a hit man who makes the Javier Bardem character in No Country for Old Men look like something out of Disney. If youre wondering, the characters are different from those in the film, but the miniseries does connect to it plot-wise, at least tangentially. I confess that the Coen brothers have always left me a bit cold, at least after Blood Simple, their first. Ive figured out that its because they spend too much time getting laughs off of stupid people -- which, lets face it, is shooting fish in a barrel. Comedy (dark or otherwise) should be like what used to be said about good journalism: it should comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. You could say that the Coens see everyone as stupid, at least on occasion, and theyre probably right. But I always leave their films admiring their skill but feeling worse than I went in. (Ironically, they attended my very small undergraduate institution, so I want to like them more than I do.) In any case, if you doubted that anyone could get a 10-hour miniseries out of Fargo, doubt no longer. Its the best thing Ive seen on TV this year.
Posted on: Thu, 19 Jun 2014 14:22:14 +0000
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