Fargo
Moderators: Brad D, Annie, Jonah, BookhouseBoyBob, Ross, Jerry Horne
Fargo
Did anyone watch this on FX? While I realize that obviously it owes it greatest creative debt to the Coen Bros.' film of the same name (and a few other films in their canon), it definitely felt like it also bore the "mark" of Twin Peaks and David Lynch. The slow, long takes, languid pacing, the strong small-town sense of place (with plenty of pine trees to spare), the focus on the do-gooders at the local sheriff's department, the other townspeople who are up to no good behind closed doors, and Billy Bob Thornton's bravura turn as a character who is the superior version of what I think they were trying to go for with Windom Earle. Not to mention the tonal combination of the folksy small-town oddball humor and the constant air of menace and dread. At any rate, I really enjoyed it and recommend that TP fans check it out. While stuff like True Detective and The Killing bear the brunt of lots of TP comparisons, I actually felt this was much closer to the actual spirit of TP as it had a sense of humor about itself, which those other, more dour series don't have (I feel like people forget just how very funny Peaks was, at its best).
"Fire...walk...with...me...MEEE!!!"
Re: Fargo
Molly completely reminded me of Deputy Andy, if a bit more sophisticated... and everything about the sheriff's office screamed TP. Overall I loved it.TheArm wrote:Did anyone watch this on FX? While I realize that obviously it owes it greatest creative debt to the Coen Bros.' film of the same name (and a few other films in their canon), it definitely felt like it also bore the "mark" of Twin Peaks and David Lynch. The slow, long takes, languid pacing, the strong small-town sense of place (with plenty of pine trees to spare), the focus on the do-gooders at the local sheriff's department, the other townspeople who are up to no good behind closed doors, and Billy Bob Thornton's bravura turn as a character who is the superior version of what I think they were trying to go for with Windom Earle. Not to mention the tonal combination of the folksy small-town oddball humor and the constant air of menace and dread. At any rate, I really enjoyed it and recommend that TP fans check it out. While stuff like True Detective and The Killing bear the brunt of lots of TP comparisons, I actually felt this was much closer to the actual spirit of TP as it had a sense of humor about itself, which those other, more dour series don't have (I feel like people forget just how very funny Peaks was, at its best).
Re: Fargo
I always considered that the original Coen Bros film Fargo...seemed to have taken a huge influence from Lynch's Twin Peaks, and that was back in the mid-90's, a few years after TP. It always smacked of Twin Peaks to me (particularly the police services aspect), in the same way that Barton Fink is also seemingly a rendering of Henry 'Eraserhead' Spencer, even down to the hairstyle.