Dec. 3 - Review: No Country for Old Men
You already know how much The Trinitonian sucks. In a fit of masochistic hypocrisy, I've started writing movie reviews for the paper. Despite the obligatory editing errors (like misspelling my name), it went better than I expected. Here is the final version of my article (they accidentally published the first draft).
It is impossible to pin Joel and Ethan Coen down to a specific genre. Despite this, their films have a distinct and unmistakable style. Like a good pair of jeans, you can't fully explain why you like them. They just feel right.
The only times they miss the mark are when they stray too far from their own method. Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers both tanked because they didn't feel like Coen Brothers films.
Thankfully, the duo returns to what it knows best with No Country for Old Men. Channeling their older, darker films like Blood Simple and Fargo, the Coen Brothers create a tense, disturbing, and ultimately thought-provoking scenario.
The premise seems safe enough: rough-and-tumble cowboy Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) steals a large sum of money from a group of dead heroin smugglers in West Texas. The cartel brings in sadistic mercenary Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), who carries around a captive bolt gun and looks like a cross between a Mexican wrestler and a marionette. This results in a lot of gruesome deaths and cool dialogue. Also, Tommy Lee Jones is there.
While this should be a financial slam-dunk for the Coens, they make several directorial decisions that limit its release and turn it from an awesome film into a masterpiece. Much like the Coens themselves, No Country is hard to pin down. It hops around genres like a hyperactive wallaby: noir to action to western to thriller to drama to comedy. Despite this stylistic schizophrenia, it's done so fluidly that the genres converge to create a truly unique film.
It's also surprisingly funny at times. The Coen Brothers have an inherent knack for dialogue, and can create humorous moments without telling jokes.
I have not read Cormac McCarthy's original novel, but there is a consensus that the Coens stick diligently to the source material. Because of this, the film retains a highly literary feel. There are many deaths in No Country. Yet, a significant number of these deaths (typically of important characters) occur off-screen. It would be easy to show each kill in grisly detail. As the film progresses, however, the deaths become increasingly unclear and perplexing.
While No Country begins with an established hero and villain, these archetypes are constantly altered, always reminding the viewing that this is, indeed, not a country for old men. In order to survive in this cruel environment, a man must either be more ruthless than his adversary, or get the hell out of the way.
The Coens deliberately choose not to include a soundtrack, and the results are astoundingly disturbing. The entire theater was completely silent. You could cut the tension with a knife.
I realize the irony of the president of the Bad Movie Club telling people to go see a good movie. However, when you've seen as much crap as I have, you know what to look for. For all intents and purposes, this film is nearly flawless.
Do yourself a favor: take that drive up I-10, go to the Santikos Bijou, order a pitcher of Shiner, and watch No Country for Old Men.
Posted by Nick Nobel
