FARGO Streaming: Neon, from Wednesday, November 22
Screening: SoHo, from Monday, November 27
The previous four seasons of Fargo - the anthology series which used the 1996 Coen brothers' movie as a foundation to Midwest crime stories delivered as dark and bloody comedies - have proved that film spin-offs don't have to be knock-offs. And that they don't necessarily have to stick to one film.
The fourth season from 2020, with its warring crime families in 1950s Kansas City, Missouri, felt as much of a homage to the Coens' mobster movie Miller's Crossing and had characters who tied into season two, set in 1979.
Judging by early episodes of the forthcoming fifth season, there is an amusing, you'll-know-it-when-you-see-it touch of the Coens' No Country for Old Men, their Oscar-winning adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel.
But Noah Hawley, who created the acclaimed anthology with little input from the duo but with an expert ear for their tone, has also delivered a Fargo show that might be the closest he's got to the original film, albeit in a script-flipped kind of way.
This story is from the November 18-24 2023 edition of New Zealand Listener.
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This story is from the November 18-24 2023 edition of New Zealand Listener.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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