Sunday, August 9, 2015

Oh ya ya know

Another item I borrowed from my library system's fine audiovisual collection: the first season of Fargo. Which, as I've read was actually filmed in Calgary, Alberta. This actually makes sense, somewhat. The speech patterns of Central Canada and a Northerly Plains state like Minnesota aren't hugely different.

The cast is enviable. Billy Bob Thornton's Lorne Malvo is obviously malign - his name is one letter off being an anagram for "malevolent" - but he's the kind of bad guy that I could see being taken in by, for a number of reasons. Thornton's also a tie to the Coens themselves, as he starred as a quite different character in The Man Who Wasn't There. (Also was in Intolerable Cruelty but I've never seen that one.)

The show seems a little darker than the movie it was inspired by. Jerry Lundegaard made one big wrong choice in life. Marge's husband in the movie stood as an example of a weak man - or at least one lacking in traditional manly traits - who could find his place in the world through the love of a good woman, and there was a suggestion that Jerry could have taken this path. Lester, by contrast, seems to have no life worth speaking about behind him or ahead of him before he cracks. It's not like evil is the right choice, but overall it's a relatively honest one.

2 comments:

semiconscious said...

even tho we watched this only a little while back, & enjoyed it, neither of us can really remember very much of it. maybe it has something to do with just how extremely unforgettable the original was?...

speaking of limited series, we recently had the great displeasure of watching 'wayward pines' (yes, that's the actual name - 'wayward pines'), which was half 'twin peaks for idiots', & half 'm. night shyamalan channels ed wood'. you'd have to search pretty hard to find a story with even half the plot holes & inconsistencies of this monstrosity. awful in a genuinely remarkable way, to the point where part of you wonders if it's intentional, & the creators are knowingly, deliberately yanking their audience's chain? because, well - why not? it's not like there's a whole lot of critical thinking going on out there :) ...

Ben said...

The original was a unique accomplishment, with great work by all concerned. I have little hesitation in recommending the adaptation to my friends, though.

I like your "M Night Shyamalan channels Ed Wood" description. Man, it's too bad Wood himself isn't around to cash in. Never quite got around to checking out Wayward Pines, and while that wasn't so much a decision, it sounds like the right call anyway.

I did see the third season of American Horror Story this summer, the one with the witch boarding school. Good for the first half. Energy flags after that.