Movie: No Country For Old Men
General Info
Title: No Country For Old Men
Year: 2007
In Short
In the Texas Back Country, a man finds a bag of drug money at a very bloody murder scene. He decides to take the money and from that moment on, Trouble follows him wherever he goes.
The Movie
Visuals
Well, it’s an incredibly sober visual setup: everything, from landscape shots to close ups are effective, nothing fancy.
Plot
It’s a reasonable straight plot: one guy on the run, being hunted by a very bad character and an old police man observing the situation from afar, trying to help the prey.
*SPOILER ALERT*
The fact that the main character gets killed 20% from the ending is a real surprise, but what really stuck in my head was how his killing was portrayed: it wasn’t, we just arrive at the scene with the police investigating the scene. A very nice Touch.
*SPOILER ALERT*
Even though it’s been done before many a time, I really enjoyed the older sherrif character combining old age, desperation and bewilderment in one look or sentence, it’s incredibly well done.
Cast
Had to look up Josh Brolin, his face isn’t familiar, but his performance was solid and impressive. Oscar winner Javiar Bardem shows us one of the scariest movie characters of this decade, wow..
Tommy Lee Jones is in full auto pilot, but he gets the job done with style. Nice cameo from Woody Harrelson.
Conclusion
Excellent movie from the always interesting Coen Brothers!
Rating: 
(Coen Bros deliver the goods..)
March 9th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
*Jumps into post*
Frenchy, this is my favourite film of last year. What I loved most about this film is the way that it portrayed death. The fact that when people die suddenly, it’s just as that, sudden. Live continues to exist and go on. It doesn’t stop just because the main character died. The sun still shines, cars still drive with people on their way to their destinations. It messes with the concept that human beings feel that we are so important. In this movie, the death of an individual is like sticking you hand in a stream, the water doesn’t stop but rather continues to flow around your hand. I also believe that it’s a commentary on the desensitization of violence in our society. Chigurh is a metaphor for the psychopathic nature in some human beings that walk among us. Chigurh was only scary to us because we were aware of the brutal murders that he had committed, but on the street, we see a man with an almost angelic hair style and plain exterior, maybe even, easy to miss. Some of the most prolific and dangerous killers were ones, that people were not afraid to stop the car and help, or invite into our homes. The Coen’s were so smart employ this device.
Do you know what the most scary thing was for me in this movie? The silence. I’ve read that the silence in this film was another character in this film, and I agree. The silent periods in this movie made me thing the worst things. Scared me out of my mind. The silence was both threatening at points, cleansing, and sad. So much emotion in the use of soundlessness. Another clever device. Damn brilliant. Think about it, all day we fill our silences with beeps, clicks, music, etc… Why do we? How many times a day do you sit in silence? Why don’t you? Sometimes, the things that your mind comes up with in the absence of sound can be interesting. Funny, how most of the world has made us slaves to the constant sounds of background noise in order to keep us out of the silences of psyches.
Now Bardem, that’s my guy! I have been rooting for from the beginning. He is fearless. He breathed this character like it was air. I love to see an actor do that. Tommy Lee Jones, is like fine old leather, just keeps getting better. He always brings his “A” game. Nobody is f****** with Tommy Lee when he is in a scene. He owns it. He’s always a pleasure to watch on screen. Because he know as an actor how much to give in a scene. Give it slow and easy. Let the audience see the wheels turning, don’t tell us that they are. Have you seen The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada? http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/threeburials/ There is no one like Tommy Lee. *lights candle at the Tommy Lee Jones alter*
Excellent review Frenchy! I gush, I know, but I just believe this movie is so brilliant!
March 9th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Reading your comments and my post I realise my review’s kinda messed up because two days later (last Friday) I saw There Will Be Blood and that’s quite a mix of imagery and stories for my lil’ ol’ brain
You’re right about the Silence Treatment, one of the things I forgot to mention about the movie.
Bardem’s greatest scene is when he’s walking in his socks, and that air pressured gun of his, wow.. He’s less of a metaphor and more another version of the Human Monster type. And he does it very, very well.
Star of the movie: the transponder/receiver thingy
thx for the kind words and insightful comments, Evelyn!
Have a read of my review of Three Burials: http://www.frenchysfracas.com/2006/04/03/movie-the-three-burials-of-melquiades-estrada/
where can I find _your_ movie reviews, btw?
March 9th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Shhh…pass the popcon…;)
March 9th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
heheh..
March 19th, 2008 at 8:47 am
This movie reminded me very much of Sam Raimi’s ‘A Simple Plan’ - and that’s meant as a compliment, but also of course brought back memories to ‘Blood Simple’.
I loved the sense of desolation, permeating every frame of this movie. It’s in the little things - the coffee the old guy drinks every day (he just makes it once a week,see), the device the Barddem character uses to off people, or to gain entrance.
What was vastly different from Raimi’s movie though; nobody got their ‘just desserts’ That put me off, initially and I had to do some soul searching to understand what was so troubling about that. Then I figured it out - to me the point is that the world the Coens are depicting, is a vastly different one from their earlier effort. This goes against everything I believe in. To my mind I, like most people, believe that in the end a life must make sense, must have a meaning. Without that, what’s the point!
The Tommy Lee Jones character is more or less the moral center of the story - except there isn’t one. Ultimately this world, so the movie seems to say, is devoid of meaning. There are victims, killers, drugdealers, people that life their live without any thought whatsoever - and it all doesn’t make any difference. In the end all a man can do is take his horse and go for a ride.
March 20th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Ah, ‘A Simple Plan’.. Didn’t I watch that one with you at the Rotterdam Film Festival? Not sure, the mind’s getting old
I do understand the comparison, but Raimi’s movie was more disturbing to me: I still get flashbacks of the woodchipper scene and feel totally wrecked about it. That’s why I know that ASP has had a deeper impact: I’m sure I’ll be able to watch NCFOM again, but ASP was too intense for me to watch again (i.e. loved it more).
Can’t say I remember seeing Blood Simple btw.
Just desserts angle: didn’t have a problem with it; seemed to fit nicely. For a moment I thought the final scene with Bardem would be the fitting punishment, but that didn’t happen as I expected. That scene still annoys me for its total uselessness, I don’t like to be in a movie and wonder what the point of a certain scene is. At that moment, either the scene is crap or (more often) I wasn’t paying attention
Don’t know if I agree about the last paragraph, it’s really more like ASP: one person makes a choice and the whole world gets pulled on to the Consequences Roller Coaster.
Excellent remarks again, RG!