6 July 2003
I finally saw Blood Simple this evening, so I’ve now seen all of the films by the Coen brothers. Three aren’t as good as the rest: Barton Fink , The Hudsucker Proxy , and Fargo . All are good, but didn’t stick with me like the rest, and I know Blood Simple will stick with me because of the knife-window scene. Blood Simple is soaked in liquor, blood, and sweat, all rapidly evaporating in the Texas heat.
There’s an almost balletic quality to the way murder and violence escalate, each step consistent but leaving the house of cards missing a bottom deck. It reminded me of another film in this way, but I couldn’t think of which one. A quick trip to my external film memory and I come up with… Changing Lanes and possibly La Haine . Changing Lanes isn’t it, because that was kinda-fun-but-not-really-gripping, and La Haine was about more than just the escalation of violence. So it was probably a book I was thinking of.
The scene before the burial attempt was similar to the Karma Police video, but Google seems to think not. I can’t see how no one, bearing in mind the way the man crawls and the setting on a lonely highway late at night, considered it at least worth a mention.
Even with this grim, taciturn setting, I burst out laughing with Visser at the end due to the sheer confusion of it all. One of those moments where, like in tennis, you just say to yourself ‘too good.’ It’s strange seeing Frances McDormand looking so young.