Blood Simple.

Directed by Joel Coen, Blood Simple. details the violence that ensues after a sleazy businessman (Dan Hedaya’s Julian Marty), having hired a private investigator (M. Emmet Walsh’s Loren Visser), discovers that his young wife (Frances McDormand’s Abby) is having an affair with a handsome bartender (John Getz’s Ray). It’s familiar territory that is, for the most part, employed to stylish yet distressingly uninvolving effect by Coen, as the filmmaker, working from a script written with Ethan Coen, has infused Blood Simple. with an exceedingly (and often excessively) deliberate sensibility that prevents the viewer from embracing the material – with the arms-length atmosphere, at least, alleviated by the fantastic performances and Barry Sonnenfeld’s persistently spellbinding cinematography. And although Coen has admittedly peppered the proceedings with a handful of striking, engaging sequences, including a long, dialogue-free stretch detailing a character’s efforts at hiding a body, Blood Simple. ultimately progresses into an expectedly violent climax that isn’t, by and large, able to pack the visceral punch one might’ve anticipated – which does, in the end, cement the picture’s place as a somewhat underwhelming debut for a filmmaker who would go on to bigger and better things.

** out of ****