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Fargo: Season 4 on Sundays

RedSoxFaithful

a vicar in a tutu
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Anyone else watching? I've been looking forward to this for a while. Pretty pumped it's finally here.
 
i'm pretty excited about it, but i don't see why they had to name it after the movie.
 
Sepinwall really liked it. I've never seen the movie, but I'll check this out.

phan, $$$.
 
So far, so good.

I didn't realize this was an hour and a half. I thought it was a series?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 
Huh. Wikipedia has 5 episodes listed so far. This seems pretty ambitious. I assume the rest are gonna be hour long.
 
thought it was pretty good. very interesting. a little to similar to the movie.
 
Most of the last several Oscar nominees and most classic films (Citizen Kane, Gone with the Wind, etc).

I'd definitely put it above the Citizen Kanes and Gone with the Winds (not to mention the last several Oscar nominees). The Coens have put out a ton of really great stuff, but Fargo is way the hell up there on a really impressive filmography. Perfectly scripted, acted, directed, shot, etc., hilarious and tragic, and stands the test of time really well. If you're into the idea of this TV show, then you're going to love the movie (which, barring Twin Peaks level excellence is almost certainly superior to the TV show).
 
I'd definitely put it above the Citizen Kanes and Gone with the Winds (not to mention the last several Oscar nominees). The Coens have put out a ton of really great stuff, but Fargo is way the hell up there on a really impressive filmography. Perfectly scripted, acted, directed, shot, etc., hilarious and tragic, and stands the test of time really well. If you're into the idea of this TV show, then you're going to love the movie (which, barring Twin Peaks level excellence is almost certainly superior to the TV show).

So much this.

The tv show is not without its flaws, but, going solely on the premiere at this point, it's about as good as anything out there right now. It remains to be seen if the quality can be sustained for 10 episodes (and the plot was ramped up so much in the last 20 minutes that I find myself wondering how things will draw out that far), but last night was really good stuff.

As far as its flaws are concerned, the AV Club review nicely illustrated how the show nearly undercut a tonal balance that the film perfected. Both of the reviews I've read have agreed that things seemed off-kilter (and teetering on unlikable) until people started dying. This paragraph nicely breaks down the cinematography of the episode's climactic scene, and how it works to bring the audience back in:
What I’m most impressed by, though, is how this episode gets you to identify so thoroughly with Lester—then immediately removes that identification once he kills his wife because she dared insult him. It’s a tough trick to play, and I’m not precisely sure how Hawley and Bernstein manage it (short of the fact that, y’know, killing your wife because she’s mean to you is the wrong choice in most circumstances). Here’s my best stab at it: When Lester impulsively conks Pearl on the head with the hammer, we immediately cut to a point-of-view shot of her face, frozen in horror, then watch as blood starts to trickle down it. Bernstein is suggesting, subtly, that we, who have been invited to identify with Lester because we’ve all felt picked on by the Sam Hesses of the world, or felt diminished by those we’ve loved, are the ones who’ve perpetrated this crime in some way—perhaps by wishing it would happen within this fictional context. Then, just as quickly, we’re outside of that point-of-view, watching Lester’s hammer swing through the air to connect with his wife over and over, and then we’re just watching him—not even his face—hunch over Pearl as he hits her again and again. We go from being Lester, to seeing the true horror of his actions from an angle that has him swinging toward the camera (and, by extension, us), to an angle that cuts out his face and dehumanizes him. The sequence asks us if we, ourselves, would be capable of something like this, answers “yes” in no uncertain terms, then removes us from Lester to see if we can recognize the gravity of what he’s done. It’s crafty stuff.

At any rate, between this and Mad Men, the next couple of months are going to be a lot of fun.
 
watched it last night, thought it was great. definitely got some Breaking Bad and No Country vibes. Billy Bob Thornton has some Anton Chigurh in him. did anyone notice the White Russian special at the diner? nice Easter egg.
 
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