AFS Cinema screens the 1984 Coen Brothers film 'Blood Simple' as part of a week-long series dedicated to their first three films.
AFS Cinema kicks off a week dedicated to the Coen Brothers' first three films with a screening of Blood Simple on Sunday, September 20. The cinema is calling the series a "petite sampler" of the brothers' range, and it's a good way to see how they started: a wackadoo comedy, a period gangster film, and a sweaty neo-noir filmed right here in Austin. Blood Simple is the neo-noir, their 1984 debut, and it's where it all began.
The plot is a classic setup: a sad, grubby Texas bar where a private investigator is hired to prove the bartender is having an affair with the boss's wife. From there, things go south in the way only a Coen Brothers movie can. The hallmarks they'd spend the next few decades refining were there from the start—the grim humor, the love of noir, and a leading lady in Frances McDormand, who would become an Oscar-winning icon in Fargo more than a decade later.
If you've never seen it, it's a great place to start with the Coens. It's a lean, mean piece of Texas noir that doesn't waste a frame, and seeing it on the big screen is the way it was meant to be watched. If you're a fan of the brothers, it's a chance to go back to the beginning and see the seeds of everything that followed.
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AFS Cinema is a two-screen theater owned and operated by the Austin Film Society, and it's a good spot for a movie night—they program a mix of new releases and revival screenings of documentary, arthouse, classic restorations, and world cinema, with a full bar and upscale concessions on-site. It was a Best of Austin Readers Poll winner for Movie Theatre in 2026 and a Critics Pick for Best Movie Theatre in 2017. Blood Simple screens on September 20 at 6406 N. I-35 Ste. 3100, Austin, TX 78752.
