Blood Simple is the top Coen brother on HBO Max

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Blood Simple is one of the best shows you can watch on HBO Max and standard channels right now. WarnerMedia’s massive back catalog and prestige export of streaming media includes Coen Brothers’ first feature, which is worth a try as part of your standard subscription.

This story about marriage duplicity, bloody revenge, and petty criminal incompetence started the career of the film-making duo with a decisive sensation. This is the fascinating part of their work, and it is also a beautiful independent crime thriller.

If you’ve never seen it before, do yourself a favor, it’s easy to watch blood HBO max Either standard ASAP.

In their first movie, Joel and Ethan Cohen tell a relatively simple story of jealousy and revenge. When the small town bar owner Julian Marty (Dan Herdaya) found out that his young wife Abby (Francis McDormand) and his employee Ray (John Gates) cheated on him, he Hired a local PI and killed the two lovers.

In the sweaty Texas town, a simple blow quickly got out of control. No one believes anyone in this new black crime thriller, nor should they believe it. The dirty private cock Lorren Visser (M. Emmett Walsh) has no real code. “If the salary is right and legal, I will do it” becomes “Well, if the salary is right, I will do it” without much resistance.

You can already discover Coens’ amazing eye for detail and efficient storytelling. The movie entered within a tense 95 minutes, and no moment was wasted. Their camera stays exactly where it needs to be: on the bartender’s fashionable pair of high-top tops, on the growing pool of blood, on the rotting fish in a few days, on the stream of light seeping through the bullet holes.

From the repeated use of The Four Tops’ “It’s the same Old Song”, to mosquitoes making harsh and ear-piercing sounds when they kill mosquitoes, to Carter’s unforgettable soundtrack, Burwell, who often collaborates with Coens. (This is Burwell’s first film soundtrack, and he continues to score many other major films, earning two Oscar nominations along the way.)

Check: Everything you can watch on HBO Max

“Blood Simple” did not do well at the box office, but it was so popular that it was no surprise that it introduced two visionary filmmakers to the world. Many years later, it received the treatment of the Criterion Collection in recognition of its status as a contemporary classic.

The best black humor

Almost every Coen Brothers movie is a comedy. Even movies like “Fago”, “Old Nowhere” and “Serious Man” can find a sense of humor in tragedy, discomfort, violence, mundaneity and horror.

When the character needs a break, things get worse. We watched, comfortable and safe, because ordinary people in tragicomedy made mistakes we might make in their shoes. Or just suffer ordinary bad luck. What if your car cannot start after you bury the body in the farmland? When Ray’s igniter splashed, it was hard not to laugh, threatening to get him into trouble.

Coens is very good at recurring clips, which become more and more interesting over time. An angry character rushes into the car, but has to turn around at top speed when encountering a dead end. This is a funny joke in itself. However, it is even more interesting when repeating a few scenes later.

This ridiculous average continuity runs through the entire movie, which is deeply satisfying. Just like Shakespeare or Greek tragedies, Blood Simple provides us with all the information while keeping players in the sweaty and overheated darkness.

Heralds the arrival of more great movies

You don’t have to squint too tightly to see “Blood Simple” as a blueprint for later Coen Brothers movies.

It must have a rough feel, they have been smoothing for years. But it obviously also plays in the same sandbox as other Coens games. The incompetent backstab of Fargo and No Country for Old Men, the sweating paranoia of Barton Fink, the modern black mystery of The Big Lebowski, the myth of O South, brother, where are you? ——All are here.

Blood Simple also introduced Frances McDormand to the world, who will continue to appear in many Cohen films, win four Oscars, and become one of the greatest actresses of her generation.

As Abby, the then 27-year-old McDormand was very good. Although she is young, she shows a kind of boredom with the world, which makes Abby’s plight so heavy. We hope the men in her life do the right thing to her, and we hate them for failing so spectacularly.

There is no shortage of great Coen Brothers materials. But it’s amazing to see them solidify their creative partnership and immediately establish their iconic style. In Blood Simple, they are already on fire.