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MONDAY
April 1, 1996
GGIE
Page 7
Coen brothers' direction, production adds
bizarre humor to true story behind Fargo
By Rachel Barry
The Battalion
Only in an area of the country where
Paul Bunyan merits a statue and his
blue ox is the namesake of a motel could
a pair of gifted brothers find home to
one of the best films they ever made.
Joel and Ethan Coen have found inspi
ration from a true story of murder in the
Midwest and once
again combined
their efforts
in the -
Movie Review
Fargo
Starring W.H. Macy and Frances
McDortnand ;
Directed by Joel Coen ^
Rated R
Playing at Hollywood 16
ES-E-ir
beat film making for which they are
known. The result is the devilishly
fun to watch Fargo.
simple scam into
blunder after another.
The plot follows the suit of the
Coen brothers’ knack for taking a
seemingly ordinary string of events
and turning them into a delicious ar
ray of bizarre characters and fasci
nating backdrops.
The beauty of Fargo is its realistic
presentation. The absence of fancy
camera angles, slick editing and big-
name actors make the reality of the
film extremely easy to grasp.
The recurring use of endless, snow-
covered landscapes and
blurred horizons gives the
sense of being in the middle
of nowhere and creates an
atmosphere that is perfect
ly fitting for the strange
turn of events that fill Fargo.
The Coen brothers have shown
through their 1987 film Raising Ari
zona and now Fargo that they have a
way of taking stereotypes and ex
tracting the quirky character
istics of the people that truly
make them unique.
Frances McDormand
stands out in the cast where
it seems that lobotomies and
barbiturates are required to get
into character.
Her portrayal of the pregnant,
grease hungry police of
ficer, Marge, is the
most entertaining per
formance in the film.
W.H. Macy as the
dimwitted husband
whose bad planning
and simplistic belief
that everything will work out in the
end are charming, and even sympa
thetic at times.
Not everyone will get the jokes or ap
preciate the rich characters and no-frills
Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare (above) play two thugs hired to abduct a woman
in Fargo. Frances McDormand (left) plays Police Chief Marge Gunderson.
camera work.
Inevitably, some people go to the
movies to be filled with a couple of
hours of eye candy and have no patience
for anything but the easy-to-swallow
"The absence of fancy camera angles, slick
editing and big-name actors make the real
ity of the film extremely easy to grasp."
content of the majority of movies made
today. These people will be disappointed
and baffled by Fargo.
Filled with random interjections of
story lines, Fargo will leave the strictly
plot-trained viewer spending too much
time trying to figure out the meaning of
these “extras” and not enough time ap
preciating their placement in the script.
They add that realistic, uneven flow
that makes Fargo easy to identify with.
The Coen brothers have escaped the
tragic and common curse of the main
stream and have been able to attract
the big budgets to otherwise small bud
get-type scripts.
Perhaps the best quality of the Coen
brothers is that they have the ability to
satisfy half of the audience and leave
the other half scratching their heads,
trying to figure out what they just
watched.
Race the Sun's story shows
positive movies still exist
A Family Thing's good story
offers a warm fuzzy to viewers
Movie-Review
Race the Sun
Starring Halle Berry, James Belnshi
and Casey Affleck 1
Directed by Charles Kanganis
Rated PG ^
C:;: WayingatmHvwodd 16
By Amber Clark
The Battalion
Who says you can’t make a
wholesome and positive movie
anymore? Race the Sun, free of
sex and violence, sends a
strong message about self-es
teem among today’s youth. OK,
so there’s some foul language,
but remember we’re dealing
with teenagers here.
Based on true events. Race
the Sun tells the story of a
Hawaiian high school science
teams that races their solar-
powered car across Australia.
Prompted to attend a local sci
ence fair by their new teacher
Sandra Beecher (Halle Berry),
the students quickly find them
selves in a shoving match with
the preppy students from a
wealthy high school.
Rather them seek
ing revenge through
fighting, the lolo set
out to prove their
worth by beating the
preppies at their own
game—solar car rac
ing. Combining indi
vidual design, comput
er: er, math and mechani-
■■■■■■ cal skills, with the aid
of their skeptical shop
teacher Frank Macki (James
Belushi), the team designs the
“Cockroach.”
With energy-efficient ingenu
ity and the persistent support
of Ms. Beecher, the kids beat
the preppies by mere seconds in
the local solar-powered car com
petition. Their win guarantees
them a slot in the international
car race, a 2700-kilometer trek
across Australia.
Despite feeling outclassed,
the constant ridicule of the
competitors provides the moti
vation for the Hawaiian stu
dents to remain in the race.
During the journey, the team
faces unforeseen challenges,
from heatstroke and giant
dust storms to personal and
cultural conflict.
Berry’s portrayal of Beecher
reflects the teacher’s inner inse
curities, caused by a failed mar
riage, while remaining emotional
ly strong for the sake of her stu
dents.
Mr. Macki, the teacher who
possesses as little faith in the
students as everyone else in the
community, is of course won
over by the students’ persis
tence and spirit.
Belushi is clearly strong in his
seemingly secondary role. The
performance proves vital to the
message of the film, as seen in
Belushi’s believable transforma
tion from cynic to cheerleader.
Perhaps the best of the young
cast is Casey Affleck as team
captain Daniel Webster. Daniel,
the token white among the as
sorted native and Asian, repre
sents the outcast within the out
casts. Affleck convincingly por
trays a 17-year-old who realizes
his social position while also rec
ognizing his potential as a bril
liant design artist.
The story of Race the Sun
may seem a bit predictable, but
the the film provides an ending
that is not quite what the audi
ence expects. The message and
intent are clear. After all, life
really isn’t about whether you
win or lose, but what you learn.
Halle Berry (second from left) and James Belushi (far right) help high school kids in Race the Sun.
Movie Review
y.-ycguO'iAWS?' - " - '- .... •''wxwr •.•••••••• •- ........ . •• ••••■• .. •.
A Family Thing
Starring Robert Duvall and James
Earl Jones :
Directed by Richard Pearce
Rated PG-13
:: PlaylngatHd 1 e
By Wes Swift
The Battalion
A Family Thing rolls through its two hours mid
way between a powerful drama and frolicking
comedy, leaving viewers with a warm fuzzy larger
than James Earl Jones’ laugh.
The film stars Robert Duvall as Earl Pilcher, an
Arkansas native who learns that his redneck pedi
gree isn’t as pure as he thought when he finds a
letter from his late mother.
The letter says Earl’s real mother was a black
woman who was raped by his father. When he was
bom, Earl was taken by his father’s wife after his
real mother died giving birth.
Earl also learns he has a brother, Raymond
(Jones), in Chicago, and he sets out to find him
and discover his roots.
The film provides for some extraordinary inter
action between Duvall and Jones, who make the
most of their scenes.
Duvall plays the saddle-leather tough Earl with
a blend of Southern rigidity and fish-out-of-water
confusion, like a man whose world has been
turned upside down.
Jones is heartwarming as the sensitive Ray
mond, who balances a bitter past with a confus
ing present.
The trademark boom is absent from Jones voice
and is replaced with an occasional stutter, which
Jones pulls off beautifully.
The best scenes come when Jones and Duvall
are left alone to pull off their own brand of odd
couple playfullness.
In one scene, Earl and Raymond end up
wrestling on a vacant lot near Raymond’s home.
The chuckles end, however, when Earl snipes
at Raymond that he isn’t afraid “of any nigger on
the street.”
The film plays like this through much of its
two hours, flipping between goofy comedy and
tense drama.
Audiences switch between earnest chuckles
and whispering “Uh-oh!” about as quickly as the
scenes change.
This flip-flopping shouldn’t be seen as a hin
drance, though. The gamut of emotions makes
the film much more real.
One cannot expect that this situation would
be handled in a purely humorous manner in
the real world; neither could out and out rage
be totally expected. Remember, this is a movie
about family.
The best scene comes when Earl and Ray
mond are told about the former’s birth by Aunt
T., the matriarch of the family who was there
on the night of the birth and the death of the
brothers’ mother.
The writing and dialogue come off warm and
genteel, pushed along by Duvall and Jones. The
story doesn’t feel over-the-top and emerges as be
lievable and sincere.
The only drawback to the film is that the
pairing of Duvall and Jones begs for a more
dramatic script.
"The writing and the dialogue come
off warm and genteel, pushed along by
Duvall and Jones."
The actors’ talent is not wasted, but audiences
have to wonder what might have been had the
pair been placed in a more dramatic setting
while confronting the same issues (maybe White
Man’s Burden).
Nevertheless, audiences will leave A Family
Thing with a warm, fuzzy sensation from two bril
liant actors with some brilliant scenes.
James Earl Jones and Robert Duvall star in A Family
Thing.