Everyone has a secret, and Writer/Director Terry O'Brien fleshes out that single truth to great effect in the wicked little thriller, "North of Fargo." Josephine, Avery, and Creed are small-time criminals. They steer clear of the big city because they don't want to get caught by more-experienced police. They operate in small towns on the border between New York and Canada so that they can escape whichever country whenever necessary. They're so good-hearted that they won't even load their weapons with bullets for the impending kidnapping they've planned out of fear of hurting someone. However, human error compounds their latest scam Creed nearly kidnaps the wrong girl and this single mishap grants a Good Samaritan enough time to really muck things up: while tussling with Josephine from behind, a farmhand accidentally sets off her gun which was loaded and she's nicked by a single shot. In the confusion, she sneaks away, abandoning Avery and Creed to fend for themselves.
However, what appears to be a routine kidnapping now turns to something far more complex: Josephine was actually extracting revenge on her estranged husband, the very man who took her own infant daughter thirteen years before! This single twist powers enough turns successfully that "North of Fargo" feels less like an independent film few folks saw and more like a privileged 'Lifetime' movie of the week. Robert Buchanan the local philanthropist can't go to the police about his missing daughter without risking the discovery of his own past, taking his daughter from her mother many years ago. Angry over being left behind, would-be kidnappers Avery and Creed join can't extort the ransom money from Buchanan without getting their revenge on the unsuspecting Josephine. Josephine, played winningly by Lisa Ryder from TV's 'Andromeda,' can't figure out how to win her teenage daughter's love without divulging the secrets of her own dark past.
And, if that wasn't enough to handle, it turns out that the teenage girl is pregnant! "North of Fargo" maps out the same territory so wonderfully and vividly explored by Joel and Ethan Coen ("Blood Simple," "Fargo"), Hollywood outsiders who've built a cottage industry out of exploring borderline simpletons in chaos of their own making. Basing their stories on real incidents, the Coens have developed an artistic knack for fleshing out characters who take on a life of their own despite the lack of self-awareness, despite behaving calculatedly mundane, and despite the obvious human fallibility. Through the Coens' masterful manipulation, these folks become less and less Tinseltown creations and more credible: think of what would happen if Jimmy Stewart was dropped into the JFK's motorcade through Dallas, and you get the picture.
Like the cast of characters from the Coens' films, O'Brien's Josephine and Avery and Creed are simple folk, which is not to say that they are dumb by any stretch of the imagination. Rather, they're human, and this humanity is the edge that drives them to do what they do. On the street the day before the crime, Josephine sees a young mother abusing her small daughter. Rather than stand aside and let this small-town atrocity happen, she marches up and slaps the woman across the face, delivering the kind of message any of us would hope for the courage to pull off should the opportunity present itself. Thanks to O'Brien's tight script, he manages to keep these criminals grounded in reality. They're nervous before committing a crime. They're uptight while they're committing the crime. They're slightly out-of-sorts after committing the crime. They act on their impulses both right and wrong without dwelling in Shakespearean fashion over the long-term consequences of such actions. In their world, what happens happens. What they do about it, they do about it. As a result, their human errors inevitably turn to human evils not out of poisoned minds but merely by the circumstances of the choices they've made. They may have their secrets, but there isn't anything dark and sinister lurking in those closets; rather, this evil is founded on intimate moments that lead ordinary folks to extraordinary deeds.
As the film's original title ("Stolen Heart") was changed for the video and DVD release, there isn't any doubt that O'Brien and the folks behind distributing "North of Fargo" sought to benefit from the association with the Coens. That isn't such a bad mood, as this film clearly bounces back and forth between serious and comic tones much the way any Coen films has, and any reasonable person could see "North of Fargo" as a companion piece to "Fargo" with its locations, its moods, and its exploration of any family's various evils.
This entertaining little flick has enjoyed a lavish life in the critic's circle. Reportedly shot on a budget of $100,000, "North of Fargo" managed to win 'Best Feature' at the Valleyfest International Film Festival; 'Best Feature,' 'Best Canadian Feature Film,' and was named a finalist for the Hollywood Discovery Awards at the Victoria International Film Festival. It's a compact gem, and it deserves to be discovered by a wider audience.
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