Burn After Reading

Burn After Reading (2008)
Comedy, Crime, Drama, 96 minutes
Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich and Tilda Swinton

Do you remember the first Blu-ray you ever bought? Mine was Burn After Reading on the same day that I purchased my first Blu-ray player. It's a title that receives very little recognition and it regularly features in sales. Why is that the case?

The movie is directed by the Coen brothers and stars Clooney, Pitt, McDormand, Malkovich and Swinton. What's not to like?

I'm hard to please when it comes to humor, but several Coen brothers films hit the spot. It's clever dialogue rather than slapstick physical humor, and some of it is unpredictable. I can't laugh when I see a joke coming from a mile away wearing a T-shirt with "This is funny, laugh now" written on it. I like to be surprised.

So what is surprising about Burn After Reading?

Harry Pfarrer (Clooney) has no redeeming features. He's married, but sees other women at every opportunity. He's having an affair with Katie Cox (Swinton). Harry is shallow, paranoid and somewhat stupid and Clooney plays the character with his usual charm and good humor.

If there is anyone dumber than Harry, it has to be Chad Feldheimer (Pitt), who works in a gym. Chad is a complete idiot in every way. His friend at the gym is Linda Litzke (McDormand), who is obsessed with undergoing cosmetic surgery to improve her appearance.

Osborne Cox (Malkovich) is married to Katie and works as an analyst for the CIA. Most of his sentences include at least one profanity and he's borderline alcoholic. The story begins with a meeting in which Osborne is told that he will be demoted, but instead of accepting the situation, he quits. Katie is not pleased, even though she's on the verge of leaving him for Harry.

There's not much of a plot. Chad acquires a CD containing the beginning of Osborne's memoir and believes it to be secrets of national importance. He thinks that Osborne is sure to give him a reward if he returns it and that leads to an amusing phone call. Linda decides that the Russians may be interested in the worthless CD and that they might reward her for the useless information.

Everybody seems to be sleeping with everyone else and what could go wrong does go wrong. This is not a serious story in any way.

There's a great cameo by J. K. Simmons who plays a CIA boss. He's utterly clueless about the significance of the events we witness because they are all meaningless. Watch his reaction at the end of the movie when he makes a decision about what further action to take.

Burn After Reading is a good way to spend an hour-and-a-half. No analysis is necessary. All of the characters have funny moments. Ignore the negative reviews and see it for yourself. You can pick it up for under $10 if you like it.

Overall score 4.5/5 

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Fargo: There's more to life than a little money

Fargo (drama, crime, thriller)

Directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Starring Frances McDormand, William H. Macy and Steve Buscemi

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | 1996 | 98 min | Rated R | Released May 12, 2009

Video:

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC

Video resolution: 1080p

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Audio:

English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

English: Dolby Digital 2.0

French, German, Italian, Spanish: DTS 5.1

French, Portuguese, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1

Subtitles:

English SDH, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Mandarin (Simplified and Traditional), Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai, Turkish

Disc:

Single 50GB Blu-ray Disc

The Film 5/5

The first time I watched Fargo, I didn’t know what to expect. After multiple viewings, it’s still hard to pin down exactly what the film is. There’s a bizarre plot focusing on Jerry Lundegaard (Macy) who works for his father-in-law’s car dealership. Without ever learning why, we are told that Jerry needs money. His plan is to hire two men he has never met to kidnap his wife. He’ll pay them $40,000, but he’ll tell his father-in-law, Wade, that the ransom is $1,000,000. It’s a simple enough plan.

Jerry’s true nature is revealed early in the film when he openly lies to a customer. The two men he has hired are Carl Showalter (Buscemi) and Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare). Buscemi plays the same type of character that he played in Reservoir Dogs, talking continually, whining and cracking jokes. Stormare barely speaks, but springs into action when he feels the situation demands it.

The plot unfolds with Jerry trying and failing to borrow $750,000 from Wade for a business opportunity. Carl and Gaear make their way into town and eventually get around to abducting Jerry’s wife. It’s here that Jerry’s plan starts to go wrong. A cop pulls over Carl and Gaear while they have Jerry’s wife tied up on the back seat of the car. Carl fails to recover the situation so Gaear kills the cop and a couple of witnesses.

After the triple-murder, the third main character is introduced. She’s Marge Gunderson, a pregnant Police Chief. It’s 33 minutes before her character appears, but it seems like she holds the film together. While appearing a little slow and dorky, she’s actually highly-intelligent and intuitive. She quickly reconstructs the crime scene and realizes how the triple-murder happened.

Marge’s intellect means that she’s respected by the officers she works with, but her seemingly normal demeanor isn’t threatening and the people she interviews are caught off guard. She also gives the film balance during the scenes with Norm (John Carroll Lynch), her husband. They have a wonderful relationship and each accepts the other for exactly what they are. The contrast between Marge’s life at home and the way she performs at work is startling.

Jerry receives a visit from Marge at work, but manages to deflect her questions and she leaves without suspecting him. Later, we see a crucial scene where she meets an old acquaintance from school. He blatantly lies about his life and Marge leaves with a sense of unease. It’s a reminder that people don’t always tell the truth and she decides to visit Jerry again.

One of the funniest things about the film is Jerry. He’s pretty dumb and almost every word that leaves his mouth is a lie. But Macy talks about the character in the special features and notes that Jerry never gives up. One disaster follows another, but he always revises his plan and believes that he can pull it off. It’s interesting to see what he’ll try next.

The film’s supporting cast is full of intriguing characters. Wade insists on delivering the ransom money himself and that’s exactly what someone with his personality would do. Marge interviews some hookers who spent an evening with Carl and Gaear and there’s a funny exchange: She learns that one of the men was kinda funny looking. She presses for more information and is told that he wasn’t circumcised. The film is full of this kind of dark humor.

There’s quite a bit of violence, but it is confined to short bursts. I counted seven murders in all, but the quirky humor and tongue-in-cheek presentation never make the violent scenes too jarring. This is a film that should be viewed as a dark comedy more than anything.

Marge’s closing monologue is simple and effective; it asks us to contemplate why people commit crimes and puts things into perspective somewhat. McDormand won an Oscar for her performance and thoroughly deserved it. Macy was also nominated and the film’s screenplay was given another Oscar.

Video Quality 4/5

Roger Deakins’ cinematography perfectly captures the desolate scenery and the Blu-ray presentation is pleasing to the eye. Detail is strong, and the ever-present grain is never too heavy. There are a few white speckles at the beginning of the film, but the image quickly improves. The upgrade over the DVD is easily worth the price of the Blu-ray.

Audio Quality 4.5/5

Although there’s a lot of dialogue, the supporting sound effects are an important part of the film. It’s particularly evident when the characters walk in the compacted snow and we hear a pleasing crunch. When shots are fired, they ring out clearly. Most of the track is front-heavy, but that’s where most of the action is. The violin used in the score is particularly effective.

Special Features 2.5/5

The features are all presented in standard definition.

Commentary with Director of Photography Roger Deakins

Minnesota Nice Documentary (27:47) – The Coen brothers and main cast talk about the film, likening Minnesota to Siberia with family restaurants. Learn what the actors thought of their roles and how they enjoyed working with the directors.

Photo Gallery – Stills from the shoot.

Theatrical Trailer (1:58)

TV Spot (0:31)

American Cinematography Article – A series of stills discussing the work of Roger Deakins.

Fargo is an odd film. It grabs your interest early and slowly increases the tension as the story unfolds. You’ll see a glimpse of what life might be like in small-town America, and you’ll laugh. The Coen brothers have made some very good films and a couple of great ones. This falls into the second category. The Blu-ray presentation is a good upgrade and I strongly recommend the film itself.

Overall score 5/5 

See where Fargo ranks among my Top 20 dramas by clicking here.


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