Fargo

Winner of the Academy Award as the best Original Screenplay of 1996. Set in the midst of the bleak midwinter snow drifts of the American Midwest Fargo is a story of murder and mayhem. Stylistically Fargo-in its observation of a specific Minnesota community-is at the opposite end of the spectrum from the post-modernism of The Hudsucker Proxy and the baroque hallucinations of Barton Fink. Fargo exposes the dark side of existence but the grimness of the tale is alleviated by the laconic humor with which the characters greet their fates. The plot is executed with brilliance and yet the writing also reveals a humanity at its core.