Review: Blood Simple

Cuckolded husband and frankly unpleasant bar owner Marty (Dan Hedaya) thinks his wife Abby (a young Frances McDormand) is cheating on him. And she is, with Ray (John Getz), an employee of Marty’s, no less. Marty, enraged, hires a scumbag PI (M. Emmet Walsh) to first spy on, and then (when he has photographic evidence) kill them both. But in this film full of shifting motives and flawed characters (did I mention that the PI is a scumbag?), things aren’t that simple. But then, murder is never simple is it?

 

I’ll never be confused for a Coen Brothers fan, and although their 1984 low-budget debut (directed and co-written by Joel, Ethan serving as co-writer) is a bit overrated, it’s still a pretty easy watch I must say. I’d been wanting to see this one for about 20 years, hell I would’ve gladly traded this for some of their crappier films I’ve seen up until now. It’s a bit too slow and hardly up to the standard of their two best films “The Big Lebowski” and “True Grit”, but it sure as hell ain’t no “Fargo”, “Raising Arizona” or “Burn After Reading”, either. It’s hardly a classic, but it’s a far more entertaining film than “No Country for Old Men” (which lulled whenever Chiguhr wasn’t around, and killed off another character in a totally unsatisfying manner) and overall worth a look. It’s an odd mixture of noir and macabre, almost bordering on being a horror or suspense picture at times.

 

If nothing else, the film works as a showcase for The Coens in putting themselves on the map, and also the superlative efforts of veteran character actor M. Emmet Walsh who has never been better. He steals the film from his very first, sleazy moment. Fellow character actor Dan Hedaya is also excellent as the menacing, cuckolded husband. It might be his finest hour, too. Debutant actress Frances McDormand (later Mrs. Joel Coen, and Oscar winner in the Coens’ terrible “Fargo”) and John Getz are a bit bland (and Getz isn’t remotely credible as a Texan, either), but so are their characters. They improve once their characters seem to become truly shell-shocked and horrified at having to commit violence and recoil at the sight of blood. In that respect, it’s pretty damn realistic and Getz becomes quite sickly and tortured-looking after a while. However, it must be said that Getz’s character makes far too many dumb arse mistakes throughout. It’s hard to warm to someone so incredibly dense.

 

I should also single out the cinematography by Barry Sonnenfeld (“Raising Arizona”, “Miller’s Crossing”, “Throw Momma From the Train”) which makes the film look really cool, moody and dark. The Coens show off a pretty nifty visual style, including an interesting tracking shot along a bar, including over the head of an unconscious drunk. The camera is always active, suggesting that The Coen’s good buddy Sam Raimi (“The Evil Dead”) might’ve given them some tips. The throbbing, unnerving music score by Carter Burwell (“Raising Arizona”, “Miller’s Crossing”, “Barton Fink”) is definitely a standout. The film also has an excellent sound design that helps with the slow-building tension, though ultimately it was just a tad too slow for me as I said. I also wasn’t entirely enamoured with the dialogue to be honest. It’s a bit clunky, and the delivery a bit stilted.

 

Overall, this is a solid B-movie wrongly elevated to A-status by some. It’s fine on that B-level, though. But if you rate this film highly, you surely must rate the similar “Red Rock West” highly too (not to mention a lot of noir films of the 40s and 50s like “Double Indemnity”). Their plots are pretty damn similar, but with obviously great differences in tone. This film lacks that later film’s sense of humour and twisty narrative. There’s a lot to like in this film, but like almost everything Coen Brothers, it has been elevated to a lofty status that it is somewhat undeserving of.

 

Rating: B-