Skip to main content

"American Independent Film, 1999" - Movie Review: Blood Simple

If I were 'Blood Simple', what would I have to say for myself? I think I'd say, "beginnings are always hard and most are artificial".

For some films, being slow works out nicely; some things are really just worth waiting for. Luckily for 'Blood Simple', being slow actually makes the film stronger. Take out the lingering shots or the seemingly plodding pace of the characters, and 'Blood Simple' would lose its suspense and the climax would surely go unnoticed.

Slow and steady makes 'Blood Simple' seem real; there are no epic car chases, no gigantic explosions, no shoot-outs, none of the standard things that make Hollywood tick. Yet somehow, thanks primarily to the Coen's now famous style, 'Blood Simple' pulls off a scarier, more engaging story than most Hollywood films could even dream of.

About the Coens...

They don't offer us much in the way of 'likable' characters. They have this way of creating people that we've all known, sometimes been, and never liked. There's always something underhanded and manipulative and scheming about all the characters; from adultery to murder, everyone is always up to something and self-serving, ulterior motives abound.

But that's okay!

'Nice' is simply so overrated.
And phony.

Being not likable is actually more believable.

It's not as though the characters are evil, they just aren't the kind of people we proudly admit to socializing with, or, even less likely to be admitted, the kind of people our most secret selves are.

The Coens have tapped into a deep, dark, dirty well of humanity and are pumping the slimy waters into their characters; it's all tainted with realism even while each character's eccentricity seems to plummet off the deep end of possibility.

The Coen brothers are definitely on to something, and it's good.

Check out The Atlantic's 30 year anniversary review of Blood Simple - if you want to read more about the film.

You can watch the Blood Simple trailer here:

And you can pick up a copy of Blood Simple for yourself here:

Comments

  1. Yes, you have made me smile - I am very pleased that you do indeed recognize the value of what the Coen Brothers do and how it is quite different in style than what most directors strive for They are never looking for sensationalism, killer car chases, explosions or any other artificial device to tell the story of broken people - they really let the people just tell the story themselves. The story of people making bad decisions for the wrong reasons and then, when faced with the consequences of their decisions, just continue down the path of making even worse decisions until they have managed to either destroy themselves or the people around them. I find their stories and characters fascinating; sure I may be squirming while I am watching what will be the inevitable meltdown, but they build up to it slowly and surely until there is no alternative for these broken characters. Boxed into their own self made corners, they are doomed to suffer the backlash of their imperfect decisions. With each succeeding film, they have gotten better and better at this process, and while I know you view them as somewhat repetitive in their formula, I wait with anticipation for their next offering to see what situation and characters they are going to decimate in the next film.

    Thank you for this blog/comment, you have indeed made me happy this morning!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rebuttal: 17 Disturbing Horror Movies You Will Never Watch Again

When I'm not watching movies, I'm reading about movies. I stumble across all kinds of articles, blog posts, book excerpts, etc. in my quest to absorb as much movie knowledge as possible. Now, I'm snotty and loud-mouthed and opinionated but I'd never begrudge another human their opinion. Seriously. You're absolutely welcome to have any opinion about any thing you want. However, I must warn you, if I think your opinion is stupid, I'm absolutely going to say so. I've recently stumbled on an article completely  brimming with so many idiotic opinions that I'm actually compelled to craft a response. Here's the gist of the original article: there are some horror movies out there that are so disturbing , you'll only ever want to watch them once. I've have taken her original list and refuted her claims without pulling her entire article over. You can read the original article here . Let's start at the beginning, with her opening statement

Escape From Tomorrow

I love creative people who are willing to take risks with their art. I appreciate the refusal to do things by the rules. I'm also terribly impatient with mediocrity. Enter  Escape From Tomorrow . Created by a team of rogue filmmakers, the movie was shot in the video mode of high-end still cameras. Actors shared scripts and shooting locations across their smartphones. Shot on location at Disney World, the parks were completely unaware this was all going on right under their mouse ears. I wanted to love Escape From Tomorrow. More than that, I wanted to be completely taken with its ingenuity and creativity and - oh yes - its originality. And there is really a simple brilliance to their covert plan; all families are roaming around the parks, taking videos and chatting on their phones. Just blend the fuck in, act like you belong, and you won't get caught. Too bad the movie can be summed up as: ambitious but Rubbish. As you can imagine (or possibly know), there was a ton of con

The Witch (2015)

You know the drill - there's ALWAYS spoilers. Don't want the movie ruined for you, come back after you've seen it. Also - I'm still without an editor - typos and bad grammar await you! I keep hoping that the cultural obsession with zombies will end; literally every other damn movie that comes 'round seems to feature some sort of shambling, undead being bent on devouring the weak flesh of regular humans. Once upon a time, zombies have have been used as a metaphor for the blind consumerism created by our capitalist society, or the perceived depletion of resources by immigrants, or even the ravages of time and disease on our frail bodies. Now it seems that the deeper social commentary has been lost as audiences mindlessly consume "zombie fiction" in an attempt to keep up with trends. ( How very meta - a film buddy of mine commented on this assessment! ) All of this is just a sideways rant, leading up to my actual point: it seems that zombie may actually