A Life in Film is a project where I’m writing about a movie from every year I’ve been alive.

1996: Oh Geeze

FARGO (dir. Joel Coen, officially; but come on, Ethan was there)

OK, here we go. This is it, this is the big one (clutches chest like Fred Sanford). There’s some wiggle to this, but on most days if you asked me what my favorite movie was, my honest answer would be Fargo. It’s the movie I use to gauge the beginning of my mental adulthood; it’s a loving but pointed document of a place I love; but most of all, it’s a stupendous work of art on its own merits.

I didn’t always think so. I saw Fargo in its initial run, and massively didn’t get it. Profoundly didn’t get it. A couple of years later, I saw it again and GOT it, and all I can conclude is that somewhere in that space, my adult critical faculties finally came fully online. It’s handy to have a solid calibration on that.