Looking Back to 2007: No Country For Old Men

No Country For Old Men, the latest film by the Coen Brothers (Joel & Ethan) is a fantastic thriller by two of the most versatile directors we have working today. They’re like authors that can tackle any subject, spinning it with their particular tastes and flavors and making it their own, which is quite a feat as anyone who likes a particular author should know. Seeing their take on any subject is at the very least intelligent and interesting, but it’s never the ‘very least’ with them. They work hard on their films and think alot about their subjects, do their research, and work meticulously as a team. All this shows in the final product.

The movie feels like a book, with chapters ending in fade outs, and soft spoken dialogue. I liked the way this method was used by the Cohen brothers, though they never lacked for directing originality.

Tommy Lee Jones is the best actor in the film, and gives one of his finest performances as he becomes a more and more haunted man as the film moves on.

Spanish guy (Javier Bardem) is equally as good as he is scary, his ghostly presence like death itself is almost as mesmerizing as his 80’s haircut and tight blue trousers. And while he seems to hold all the cards by being the man willing to go to all lengths, one does get the feeling that he can be outsmarted by his own psychopathy or by something else.

Cormac McCarthy also wrote All The Pretty Horses, which also became a movie, but I’ve never seen it. (Nor will I probably ever, (the word ‘pretty’ makes it sound unappealing.))

My personal favorite Cohen Brothers film is O Brother Where Art Thou. It still is. The direction, the sharp wit, characters, and the music above all else, gives that movie, to me, a beating heart.

There’s a shift in the ending for NCFOM. Though I won’t ruin it for you, I will say that I like it. Alot. It has a great affect, and my only dissappointment is that it took to the third act for this to start to really come into focus. If there’s one thing in this film that holds it from being the Best Picture of the year, it’s that the theme of the final 15 minutes doesn’t fully make itself known until then. This, to me, is the difference. I want the Coen Brothers here the whole time, with the rest of the film going on along with it. Unfortunately it shows up a little late. No consilation because the film is still incredible the way it is. However, the last of it is even more incredible.

One thing to think about that I don’t think ruins it is that the Coen Brothers often use a guy in their films -a specter of death/evil, if you will- that pervades and tracks the main protagonists (O’Brother had the guy in the glasses with the dog, Raising Arizona had that biker guy, Millers Crossing had one too). So in the case of this film, there’s no doubt in my mind that Bardem is this character and I think it’s safe to say he’s as ambiguous and unpredictable in the role here as any of the other ones before him. In fact, he’s probably the most perfect of these characters the Coens have realized.

Notes:

The title comes from the poem “Sailing to Byzantium” by William Butler Yeats.