With over a dozen films written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen (not to mention the several dozen nominations and awards as well), it is fun to go back and watch their first venture into filmmaking and see the same traits that make their movies stand out now implanted in film over twenty five years ago. One of the most powerful movies I have watched over the past few years was the Coen’s No Country For Old Men and even with two decades separating them, I saw a lot in Blood Simple. that would come into play again and again in their films.
The title comes from the novel Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett to describe the behaviors and actions of a person after a particularly traumatic experience. The first half of the movie is a slow burn as we are introduced to Ray and Abby, two budding lovers much to the chagrin of Abby’s husband who happens to be Ray’s boss. After Marty, the husband, receives confirmation of their adultery from a private investigator, he decides to have Ray and Abby killed and tasks the PI with the job. If you do not know more about the plot already, just skip any other reviews of synopses most of which give away what would be a superb dramatic turn leading into the back half of the film.
Much like No Country, Blood Simple is paced in a slow and methodical way that serves to heighten the tension without relying on cheap gimmicks or rapid-fire editing, almost coming across similiar to an adaption of a stage play. Throughout the film, a vast majority of the scenes are played out with a stationary camera and a quiet audio track as characters are either contemplating their next move or examining what they have previously done (or at least thought that they have done). This is the equivalent of sitting on a front porch in the country watching cars or livestock or something like that. It is slow, delicate, but oddly entertaining as while you might initially think nothing is happening, you would be quite wrong. Frequent Coen brothers collaborator Carter Burwell provides the music which is very deliberate and haunting in its minimalist approach just like the movie itself.
M. Emmet Walsh steals the show as the unnamed investigator who starts off as an obnoxious, and possibly drunk loud-mouth yet over the course of the story transforms into a violent sociopath as he attempts to cover up his involvement in a murder. The shift in the character is done in a very convincing manner where he believes he has gotten away with everything until he realizes there is damning evidence to link him to the events. I thought at first that his character was merely supposed to be a joke to his goofy demeanor but that was just a front to mask the real horror behind his crazy-Texan act as he becomes unhinged to clear up the mess that was not supposed to be.
Francis McDormand is in it as well (I know that’s a shocker) but while her character really has little to do until the final few scenes she gives it her all with a sense of innocence and naivety that few actress could have realistically pulled off. We also have Dan Hedaya, also known as the hairiest man on Earth, as Marty who is excellent in the many stages of his performance from jilted lover, revenge-thirsty fiend, and the man who literally has everything to lose. The most surprisingly excellent member of the cast was John Getz as Ray, who you may know better as Gus from Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead. Getz’s performance as such is full of anguish and guilt as he technically is guilty of a heinous crime but is believing he has acted to protect Abby.
Because of the leisurely pace that the Coens’ use to show the events, the main crux of the movie falls on these very flawed characters. In such a tale, there is really no protagonist and no antagonist, just real people faced with the situation at hand. Even with the possible exception of Abby, all of our principal cast are of dubious morals at best, downright dangerous at worst. The story is constructed in such an intricate way that while the audience knows exactly what is going on, the characters do not. And while a few simple conversations between the key individuals would set everything straight to find out who’s right, who’s wrong, and what the hell is going on, all of the characters are acting in the moment, trying to hide behind their misdeeds or complacent in their inaccurate theory of the events. This is a movie which does not have traditional character development in the sense of their background and underlying driving factors. But much like the title explains, these are real, breathing characters trying to make sense of madness and plan their next step ahead under their false interpretations of events.
Much like any other Coen Brothers’ movie I have seen, this is an engaging tale with very tense, climatic scenes interspersed with character elements to give the film a very human touch.
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