Finally saw this last night and wasn’t disappointed in the slightest.
No Country for Old Men tells the story of Llewelyn Moss, a man who stumbles upon a drug deal gone sour and attempts to make off with the cash that was to be used. As he attempts to evade pursuit from Mexican gangs and various other characters, he’s also being tracked by a Texas sheriff. However, in typical Coen brothers fashion, nothing is as simple as it seems.
The Coen brothers adapted the film from the novel by Pulitzer prize-winning author, Cormac McCarthy. I haven’t read the novel yet, but having seen the movie is cause enough to put it in the queue. While I’ve never been a big fan of Westerns, it might be time to finally find out of McCarthy’s reputation for bleakness is well-deserved.
Like many other Coen brothers films, some people may have problems with the pacing, which is methodical in its buildup to the final scenes, as well as the ending. I can’t say a whole lot except that if you’ve seen Fargo, or Barton Fink then you’ll have a rough idea as to how the ending is structured. It turns a lot of people off, but I happen to enjoy it.
Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones give wonderful performances, but Javier Bardem is absolutely brilliant as an assassin set on Moss’ trail. He rightfully won the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his performance. As Morgan observed, he’s creepy enough when he’s just on screen and then he opens his mouth and speaks for a minute and becomes even creepier.
After having endured Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers, No Country for Old Men was a welcome return to the dark, gritty film noir of their earlier works like Blood Simple, Miller’s Crossing and The Man Who Wasn’t There. It rightfully earned four Academy awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay in addition to Bardem’s win and will definitely be seen again sometime soon.
Here’s hoping this is the beginning of a new resurgence for them, although I understand their next film, Burn After Reading, is another comedy, albeit set in the world of the CIA.
-K
