BLOOD SIMPLE (Coen Bros.)

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A man. His wife. His wife's lover. A private investigator. Wiping blood from your hands is never simple.

Recently I've made mentioned about how filmmakers' debut films predict their place in cinema. This is yet another example. BLOOD SIMPLE is so astonishingly gripping, especially during its second half, where the Coen Bros. will take your lungs hostage.

Preying on the traditional adultery plot but with a unique twist, the Coen Bros. pits a ruthless bar owner (Dan Hedaya), his wife who can't stand him (Frances McDormand), his lover's wife (John Getz), and a greedy P.I. (M. Emmet Walsh) against each other's throats. As BLOOD SIMPLE testifies, another universal theme that will later resurface in almost every Coen Bros. film is paranoia, and this element usually gets a lot of characters in trouble. The traditional Coen Bros. protagonist, which is a clueless man trying to do good is here, in the form of John Getz, but here he's having more than the usual dose of moral dilemma.

The beauty in Coen Bros' films is their good command of the script. The dialogue here is natural, the scenes unfolding like a stack of cards face down, and their direction is compelling.

Humor. Violence. Suspense. All of it started in the oeuvre of the brothers via BLOOD SIMPLE.

RATING: 5/5

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