Yesterday Blood Simple was on tv and we watched it. So long since I'd seen it, it might as well have been new to me, I couldn't remember at all what was gonna happen at any particular moment, and whenever I thought that I did it usually turned out to be my mind playing tricks on me. It was a lot darker and rougher than the film in my head... in fact, in many ways, it was simply quite different from what I expected.
After a little thought I put it in the Hardboiled thread; with most of their other stuff the level of distancing irony and humour combined with a perhaps deliberate attempt to not be pinned down means that even their most "genre" films such as Miller's Crossing are not true noirs, but I thought that Blood Simple did seem somehow real enough to be a genuine hardboiled neo-noir with a few unusual touches (of the kind which we would of course see again and again over the years and recognise as signatures of J&E).
Sure, if you somehow watched the film without knowing who had made it, you would definitely guess at either Coen brothers, or possibly one of their many many imitators, ie the things that make their films stand our were pretty much there, but not quite so much so, not so prominently and maybe not so confidently and maybe to be honest that's no bad thing. There were moments of humour, but I'd say that they were fewer and farther between and arose a lot more naturally than is sometimes the case, and to me that made them stronger and maybe funnier. Just simple things like when the jilted husband jumps in his car after a failed attempt at revenge and speeds away into the distance - only to come speeding back past the protagonists once more cos he's driven into a dead end.
I really liked the way that it was shot, the first scene was perfect, a car driving into a battering rainstorm with the camera in the back-seat, our two main characters only in silhouette, it really was like Hitchcock and there were many other similar moments, when digging a grave in the field and the starkness of the black sky with one man and a spade was very powerful. Many scenes with spinning fans, always a surprisingly static camera. It looked fantastic, very simple and powerful, but I can imagine that they considered it borrowed from other directors and so they moved away fromt that searching for their own.
Actually, having said that was the first scene, there was in fact one before it. A voice over which, if the film had been made last year, you just know would have been done by Woody Harrelson, but here was delivered perfectly by one of the sleaziest sleazy private detectives you're ever likely to see. And this was a recurring feeling for me - it seems that the Coen team grew too confident with the success that followed and the stylistic tricks rose higher and higher and overcame the films, an over-reliance on the same actors meant that their films became somehow stale. I don't care how good Frances Dortmand or Harrelson or John Turturro are - and they are good - there is just no way round the fact that when you see them your first thought is "oh there is Woody Harrelson - again". So while Blood Simple is a neo-noir with some extra touches, later efforts are often in danger of becoming a load of cool touches with a movie attached somewhere.
I actually think that Blood Simple may be one of their best films. There was a bit when one guy dies and I remember thinking that now he's gone there is really no way for anyone to reassemble the jigsaw, too many big pieces are missing and can't be found - and so it proved, there is no all-seeing detective or hero of any kind riding to the rescue. All that's left is a series of misunderstandings with a load of desperate and foolish people making stupid decisions because they don't have enough information about what really happened to make the right decisions. My only quibble would be that even given that, at times their actions didn't really seem to make sense, I get that they were confused and scared and so on but there was a lot of stuff they did that didn't really seem to be the thing that anyone would do in their position.
But overall, the film was so much more powerful and tense than I expected. It was lean and cut to the bone and all the moments mattered cos people really died and did so horribly and there were no jokes to hide behind when we saw it happen. A truly powerful film shot through with strong images, interesting characters and smart dialogue - and all of if so messy and confused and realistic.
I really feel that they lost their way a bit after this - all they did was change the emphases of the elements involved and while that no doubt made their style so recognisable and easy for others to catch a hold of and copy and spread their word for them and so on - it was part of what made them megastars really, but I have a feeling they could have made some better films if they had taken a slightly different path.
Well that's what I think just now anyhow. Would like to hear what everyone else thinks, about the film or about what I thought of the film.