‘Fargo’ (SHO)
Easily among the most acclaimed movies of 1996, filmmaking siblings Joel and Ethan Coen’s typically offbeat comedy-mystery is a fact-inspired tale of a crime gone haywire. Frances McDormand (Joel Coen’s real-life wife) does wonderful work in the role that recently earned her an Oscar as the pregnant police chief of a town suddenly overrun with a rash of homicides, sparked by the abduction of the wife (Kristin Rudrud) of a car salesman (William H. Macy). He’s in desperate need of money, so he engineers the kidnapping to get the ransom money from his father-in-law (Harve Presnell), with two ex-convicts (Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare) serving as the “front men” for the grab. However, the scheme unravels rapidly, with McDormand’s character proving her mettle by methodically assessing the clues and figuring out just what’s going on. Mixing with an indelible Midwestern sensibility, the Coens’ trademark dark humor is very much in evidence here (thanks to a screenplay that also won an Academy Award), with the work of cinematographer Roger Deakins a particular plus in reinforcing the idea that the story isn’t exactly linear in this case. A solid example of ensemble work at its best, this is the sort of film that seems destined to grow in stature as the years progress … though it’s heartening to know that the reception to it was as strong and positive as it was at the outset.
‘In the Gloaming’ (HBO)
Paralyzed by a 1985 horse-riding accident, actor Christopher Reeve is opening up new professional horizons for himself, as he proves by filling the role of director for the first time with this emotional new drama. Glenn Close and David Strathairn (“The Firm”) play a couple whose long-estranged son (Robert Sean Leonard, of “The Age of Innocence”) returns home with the news that he is dying of AIDS. Though his relatives including his sister, portrayed by Bridget Fonda are reluctant to deal with the situation by addressing it directly, the nurse hired to take care of him (Whoopi Goldberg) helps to facilitate the words and feelings cloaked by the family members. The tale was adapted for television by Will Scheffer from a short story, originally published in the New Yorker, by Alice Elliott Dark.
