No Country for Old Men (****)
Directed By: Joel & Ethan Coen (Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Intolerable Cruelty, Hudsucker Proxy
Starring: Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Woody Harrelson
Seen: March 1st 2008
**** Out of ****
If you’ve never felt true fear creeping up your spine and making you more uncomfortable the longer you were watching a film, then you’ve never seen Anton Chigurgh (Bardem). I’m not talking about horror film scare tactics here, this is real, simple, down to earth fear. There’s nothing supernatural about this guy, and yet you cannot help but think so, normal human beings should not be capable of this kind of evil.
Bardem rightfully won the Oscar for his portrayal here, and the Coen brothers have manufactured yet another masterpiece to add to their already impressive resume. The brothers took this Cormac McCarthy novel and adapted it for the screen quite perfectly. I recently read the novel, and the way this film was translated to the screen is something beautiful. They managed to add to an already brilliant novel with incredible acting performances and stunning cinematography.
The film starts out with a voice over, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell telling of the changing times, how things seem to keep getting worse and worse, with the viewer being shown the crisp Texas plains of the 80’s. We switch to a deputy calling Sheriff Bell, with a man (Chigurgh - pronounced “sugar”) sitting behind him. Chigurgh slowly and silently sits down on the floor, passes his handcuffed hands beneath his shoes, and proceeds to strangle the deputy with the handcuffs, an eerie disaffected look on his face all the while. Back to the Texas plains, when the camera finds a moving object, it is a car coming over a ridge, with a Police car flagging it down. The driver of the car waits for the officer to walk up to him, and Chigurgh asks the man to step out of the car…
Elsewhere we find Llewelyn Moss (Brolin) hunting on the open plains, stalking a herd of pronghorns. He shoots at one, but the animals scatter, and walking up to the spot, he finds a trail of blood, which he sets out after. En route he notices an injured pit bull hobbling away, and decides instead to retrace the dog’s steps. This leads him to a drug deal gone wrong, everyone shot up, with one guy still half alive in one of the trucks. He decides there had to be a “Last Man Standing”, and scouts the area for a possible runner. Walking up to an outcrop, he finds this man, also already dead, with a satchel resting between his knees. This satchel contains around $2 million, and Moss decides to take it.
From here mostly running and hunting ensue, with Chigurgh being put on Moss’ trail by the executives whose deal went sour. Chigurgh has a strange set of morals that drives him, Carson Wells (Harrelson), yet another bounty hunter, tells Moss at some stage that he’ll kill Moss and his family simply for inconveniencing him. While reading the novel I was also reminded of a Batman nemesis, Two-Face. He has wholly innocent people call a coin toss that will mean life or death.
As can be imagined, things get out of hand for Moss, and Chigurgh just leaves a trail of blood and violence wherever he passes, Sheriff Bell just one step behind them all the way. What really infuses the film with even more life and meaning is Sheriff Bell’s voiceovers, continuously telling us of the world getting worse, and his place in it. Eventually it all comes down to how brutal this country (America) can be, and how it can strike at any time, and anyone. And even though America is used here, the story feels universal.
The last voiceover gives the film that last tinge of emotion that stays with you for a long time after you’ve seen it. I left the cinema, and closed the novel, absolutely breathless.
Starring: Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Woody Harrelson
Seen: March 1st 2008
**** Out of ****
If you’ve never felt true fear creeping up your spine and making you more uncomfortable the longer you were watching a film, then you’ve never seen Anton Chigurgh (Bardem). I’m not talking about horror film scare tactics here, this is real, simple, down to earth fear. There’s nothing supernatural about this guy, and yet you cannot help but think so, normal human beings should not be capable of this kind of evil.
Bardem rightfully won the Oscar for his portrayal here, and the Coen brothers have manufactured yet another masterpiece to add to their already impressive resume. The brothers took this Cormac McCarthy novel and adapted it for the screen quite perfectly. I recently read the novel, and the way this film was translated to the screen is something beautiful. They managed to add to an already brilliant novel with incredible acting performances and stunning cinematography.
The film starts out with a voice over, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell telling of the changing times, how things seem to keep getting worse and worse, with the viewer being shown the crisp Texas plains of the 80’s. We switch to a deputy calling Sheriff Bell, with a man (Chigurgh - pronounced “sugar”) sitting behind him. Chigurgh slowly and silently sits down on the floor, passes his handcuffed hands beneath his shoes, and proceeds to strangle the deputy with the handcuffs, an eerie disaffected look on his face all the while. Back to the Texas plains, when the camera finds a moving object, it is a car coming over a ridge, with a Police car flagging it down. The driver of the car waits for the officer to walk up to him, and Chigurgh asks the man to step out of the car…
Elsewhere we find Llewelyn Moss (Brolin) hunting on the open plains, stalking a herd of pronghorns. He shoots at one, but the animals scatter, and walking up to the spot, he finds a trail of blood, which he sets out after. En route he notices an injured pit bull hobbling away, and decides instead to retrace the dog’s steps. This leads him to a drug deal gone wrong, everyone shot up, with one guy still half alive in one of the trucks. He decides there had to be a “Last Man Standing”, and scouts the area for a possible runner. Walking up to an outcrop, he finds this man, also already dead, with a satchel resting between his knees. This satchel contains around $2 million, and Moss decides to take it.
From here mostly running and hunting ensue, with Chigurgh being put on Moss’ trail by the executives whose deal went sour. Chigurgh has a strange set of morals that drives him, Carson Wells (Harrelson), yet another bounty hunter, tells Moss at some stage that he’ll kill Moss and his family simply for inconveniencing him. While reading the novel I was also reminded of a Batman nemesis, Two-Face. He has wholly innocent people call a coin toss that will mean life or death.
As can be imagined, things get out of hand for Moss, and Chigurgh just leaves a trail of blood and violence wherever he passes, Sheriff Bell just one step behind them all the way. What really infuses the film with even more life and meaning is Sheriff Bell’s voiceovers, continuously telling us of the world getting worse, and his place in it. Eventually it all comes down to how brutal this country (America) can be, and how it can strike at any time, and anyone. And even though America is used here, the story feels universal.
The last voiceover gives the film that last tinge of emotion that stays with you for a long time after you’ve seen it. I left the cinema, and closed the novel, absolutely breathless.
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