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      Blood Simple

      R Now Playing 1h 37m Mystery & Thriller Crime Drama List
      94% Tomatometer 111 Reviews 88% Audience Score 25,000+ Ratings "Blood Simple" was the first feature film from Joel and Ethan Coen. This is the newly restored and re-edited director's cut of the film, introduced by Mortimer Young. The stylish crime thriller premiered at film festivals in 1984. "Blood Simple" begins deep in the heart of Texas, where a jealous saloon owner hires a cheap divorce detective to kill the saloon owner's younger wife and her bartender lover. But the detective gets a better idea: he follows the two lovers, and... Read More Read Less Now in Theaters Now Playing Buy Tickets

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      Blood Simple

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      Blood Simple

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      Critics Consensus

      Brutally violent and shockingly funny in equal measure, Blood Simple offers early evidence of the Coen brothers' twisted sensibilities and filmmaking ingenuity.

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      Critics Reviews

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      Jay Scott Globe and Mail Blood Simple is entirely self-concious, and good for it. Dec 6, 2022 Full Review Adam Nayman The Ringer What holds up best about Blood Simple, besides its vice-tight plotting and the rotten charisma of M. Emmet Walsh's evil, manipulative private eye Visser, is the sheer exuberance of the Coens's visual style. Apr 15, 2019 Full Review Simran Hans Observer (UK) Blood Simple is a reminder that the Coens are formalist film-makers first, with keen noses for composition and taut, structured storytelling, as well as masters of black comedy. Rated: 4/5 Oct 8, 2017 Full Review Sean Axmaker Stream on Demand Bodies are shot, stabbed, dragged, and buried, blood is spilled and wiped up, evidence planted, swiped, and swapped, and nobody really knows what the story is. Except the audience, and we’re generally a beat behind. Apr 6, 2024 Full Review Danielle Solzman Solzy at the Movies Blood Simple not only put the Coens on the map but guaranteed that cinema would never again be the same. Rated: 4/5 Feb 7, 2024 Full Review Dimitris Passas PopMatters The debut neo-noir feature film by the brothers Ethan and Joel Coen is perhaps their most enchanting work. Blood Simple remains loyal to the classic noir tradition while evolving the genre’s prototypical narrative structure. Nov 28, 2023 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

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      ron b This skillful low budget film shows you why the Coens earned the trust of the studios and their lasting success. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/15/24 Full Review Dani G There's a reason why this film is a cult classic. Simple but efficient, a great opera prima from the Coens Rated 3 out of 5 stars 04/22/24 Full Review Tom F Almost perfect storytelling. Los Bros Coen hit the ground running. M. Emmet Walsh at his best, this rewatch camer a few days before his death. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/29/24 Full Review Leaburn O Solid thriller with some brutality thrown in. Pre the days of the Coen brothers having forged their singular style though there were Fargo elements to the film. It was quite good but a bit plodding in spite of the short runtime. Watched on Film4. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/12/24 Full Review Wayne K The Coen Brother's have had incredibly illustrious careers, producing some of the most acclaimed films of the 20th and 21st century. But everyone has to start somewhere, and for Joel & Ethan, that place was Blood Simple. Even from the beginning, they already had a good idea of what style they were going for, and as such the movie feels much like some of their later, more successful projects. Its budgetary limitations are obvious in areas such as editing, where some scenes end very abruptly, like they didn't have enough money to keep shooting so they decided to end things early. Which is weird, because other scenes and shots go on for a long time, which I felt was done as a way to ensure the movie reached feature length. Few people consider it their favourite Coen Brothers film, a sentiment very much shared by the directors themselves. It's got a plot that twists and turns, dropping little clues here and there and building up to a fitting climax, and while some of it is confusing, its satisfying when all is said and done. There's been more confident, polished and well-rounded debuts, but it's still definitely worth checking out. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/08/24 Full Review Jeff M If for no other reason, this nifty film noir deserves to be seen as the starting point for the Coen Brothers - one of the most important filmmaking duos in motion picture history. And even though this is their first endeavor, you can already notice and appreciate their extraordinary talent and love for filmmaking. What we have here is an intimate thriller with a handful of main characters, none of whom we fully understand and none of whom we fully trust. It's a gloriously lean and economic adventure, and we don't quite understand who is doing what to whom until the very end - and even then, we have to take a minute to question everything we've seen and experienced. The filmmaking here is impeccable and the suspense amazingly palpable. Like Hitchcock, the Coens are playing all 88 keys of the piano here without us fully realizing it. And what fun there is in watching a young McDormand - now a two-time Oscar winner and one of the most amazing actresses in modern cinema! It doesn't reach the heights of future endeavors such as FARGO, which is one of the great films ever made, but it's definitely a forecast of the feast to come. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/11/24 Full Review Read all reviews
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      Movie Info

      Synopsis "Blood Simple" was the first feature film from Joel and Ethan Coen. This is the newly restored and re-edited director's cut of the film, introduced by Mortimer Young. The stylish crime thriller premiered at film festivals in 1984. "Blood Simple" begins deep in the heart of Texas, where a jealous saloon owner hires a cheap divorce detective to kill the saloon owner's younger wife and her bartender lover. But the detective gets a better idea: he follows the two lovers, and...
      Director
      Joel Coen
      Producer
      Ethan Coen
      Screenwriter
      Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
      Distributor
      USA Films
      Production Co
      River Road
      Rating
      R
      Genre
      Mystery & Thriller, Crime, Drama
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Theaters)
      Jul 7, 1984, Wide
      Rerelease Date (Theaters)
      Jul 1, 2016
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Mar 1, 2016
      Box Office (Gross USA)
      $1.7M
      Runtime
      1h 37m
      Sound Mix
      Stereo
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