Blood Simple.

Year: 1984
Genre: Crime Drama
Directed: Joel & Ethan Coen
Stars: John Getz, Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya, M. Emmet Walsh, Samm-Art Williams, Deborah Neumann, Raquel Gavia
Production: River Road Productions

Patton Oswalt once came up with the best analogy when describing the viewing of a Coen Brothers movie. “Most films, you're watching through a pin door and there’s a guy there so say, ‘here we go,’ but in their movies, it’s like big hanger doors open up and everyone is working and you choose to walk in. No one’s there to help you.” Having seen the lions share of their movies, I can tell you not only is this analogy accurate but probably helps explain why their films are so fervidly accepted by filmophiles while receiving a collective shrug by mass audiences.

Blood Simple. is arguably the Coens at their least Coen-esque, telling a straightforward narrative about a jealous husband seeking revenge on his wife and her lover. Yet even without the brothers trademark sloppiness Blood Simple. is nevertheless a brilliant film; a tale told with economy and an excess of blood-cuddling suspense. If done by any other director, this sordid little film would be a highlight in an accomplished career. Yet for the Coen Brothers this movie is simply a warm-up.

Dan Hedaya stars as Julian, a scrupulous and miserly bar owner who finds his relationship with the flighty Abby (McDormand) falling apart. She is embraced in the cowboy arms of Ray (Getz) who works at the bar and feels elated by the sudden attention. Meanwhile Julian hires private eye Loren Visser (Walsh) to spy then ultimately kill the two love birds in their boudoir. Shot with obvious affection for Alfred Hitchcock and to a lesser extent, noir, Blood Simple. is an austere, chilling and darkly humorous take on the old adage “The plans of mice and men oft go astray.”

What’s present from the siblings more well-known movies is the deep reverence towards the characters. At no point did any plot-line feel contrived and necessarily and each actor had their moment to shine and even thrive which is a miracle given how small the production was. The Coens famously went door-to-door showing potential investors a trailer for the film in a gambit to raise $750,000 for the production. Instead of enticing audiences with large names, Joel Coen casted future wife and relative unknown Frances McDormand as the Bambi-esque Abby. The relative anonymity of the actors only further accentuate the suspense and endears the characters, their psychology and their situations, enveloping you into the tale of a West Texas melodrama.

What isn’t present are the large, at times ecumenical themes that dominate the Coens’ films, highlighted with a sloppiness that mimics life itself. Instead of the film being breathtakingly vast, it’s small, claustrophobic and narratively tight. Instead of a massive two hour symphony, the brothers made an unassuming little chamber fugue which nevertheless does it’s job and does it well. The brothers would get a chance to further hone their comedic chops in their next film Raising Arizona (1987) thus learning how to do the cinematic walk. Then they ran years later, blowing the doors off of the movie world with a mighty array of masterpieces including Best Picture winner No Country for Old Men (2007). It is this writers opinion that the Coens simply can’t make a bad movie. They can made disappointing features (cough cough The Ladykillers (2004)), but not bad movies.

Blood Simple. is not an exception to that rule but more an example of the road not taken. If the Coens consistently took the easy route and made films for the purpose of base entertainment, no doubt they would still be immensely successful and still be critically acclaimed. They took the road less taken and sharpened their skills like swords on a wet stone to tell tales beyond tales. Blood Simple. is fierce, suspenseful, tightly-wound and wonderfully shot. It’s a competently made feature told by two sages who were on the cusp of greatness. In short, it’s a damn good movie.

Final Grade: B