No Country For Old Men
In 1980 Vietnam vet Llewllyn Moss finds a group of men dead, having killed each other in a gunfight. Nearby, he finds a suitcase with $2m in it, and decides to take it.
Soon a bounty hunter Anton Chigurh is hired to track down the money, but decides to take the money for himself, kills the men who hired him.
A local Sheriff, Ed Tom Bell, begins to investigate the killings, and goes searching for Moss before Chigurh catches up to him.
Direction
Flawless direction from the Coen Brothers, who switch gears from their usual black comedy genre, for a gritty and violent thriller.
It contains their usual gorgeous cinematography, this time — on the Texan backdrop. This won the brothers another Oscar for Directing, and Picture.
Cast/Characters
Josh Brolin plays Moss, the hero and protagonist of the film. He plays a character you genuinely root for, and want him to succeed against the sociopath Chigurh.
Javier Bardem plays Chigurh, in one of his first English speaking roles – he delivers a truly perfect performance, and worthy of his Oscar win.
Tommy Lee Jones plays the Sheriff who narrates the film at the bookend of the film, and attempts to save Moss, and stop Chigurh.
Woody Harrelson is a character who is introduced midway through the film, who is hired to kill Chigurh. It would have been fun to see him in more scenes – but as the saying goes, less is more.
The female cast of Kelly MacDonald and Tess Harper as Moss and Bell’s wives are a little underused, with MacDonald really getting the most to do out of the two. Her final moments on screen are with Chigurh, so her fate is implied following his leaving her house in the final minutes of the film.
Screenplay/Setting/Themes
There is brutal violence at times, with Chigurh from almost the moment he appears on screen, one of the most violent and apathetic sociopaths that cinema has seen. However it is the violence that doesn’t occur – namely to some of the more prominent characters that are more heartbreaking.
With a non traditional narrative, in where the story is told from Jones’ perspective at times, he becomes an almost tertiary character in the story as he doesn’t even appear on screen until half an hour into proceedings. The ending is also non conventional, and is reportedly very close is comparison to the book of the same name.
Colours are a bit warmer with more attention paid to yellow hues – this is likely due to the setting of the harsh Texan desert.
Score/Soundtrack
Carter Burwell once again does the score, but I found this to be one of his more subtle works, rather relying on diegetic sound at times.
Overall
Quite a wonderful film in the way in was written, acted and produced. It deserved all the accolades it received.
My only nit pick is do we love it because we are told to love it, or is it a masterpiece? I think the latter.
4.5/5
If you’re able to, please “buy me a coffee”