I was anxious to see the new Coen Brothers film, No Country For Old Men, especially after having read the Cormac McCarthy novel a couple years ago. I was anxious because I thought if anyone could somehow convey the sheer emotionless landscape the film takes place in, not just geographically (Texas) it would be the Coens. I just got back from the theater and ol' Ethan and Joel didn't disappoint. Javier Bardem in the role of Anton Churgar makes Hopkins' Hannibal Lechter seem like a pansy. The movie is probably almost too true to the novel, both in dialogue and scene. I'm actually surprised it's getting the wide rave reviews I've seen given its adherence to McCarthy's bleak prose (NOTE: The worst review I've read was from the Metro Times, whose reviewer gave it a B, but they hate all kinds of good stuff, so I don't really count them). The cinematography is sparse and raw, and there's absolutely no score to guide you along. You barely catch your breath when WHAM! more tension. A buddy of mine joined me tonight, and at one particularly grisly scene, with perfect comic timing, he whispered, "This ain't High School Musical, that's for sure!" Indeed, although given the bloodshed, Carrie comes to mind. Bardem's character is a psychopath that sticks to a strict code of his own ethics, and it becomes apparent that he will do everything necessary to stick to his word. This is really a guy's movie, and the other male actors, Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin, give very good performances, though Jones plays a character we've seen before. This is not really a date movie, unless you're dating Eileen Wournos. Still, I give it an A-.
5 comments:
I liked it a lot but wish I had some explanation for why the villain is so bloodthirsty and relentless. I'm not asking for a detailed back story but some sense of his history would have enriched it.
Patty,
Hi there. Hope you're doing well. The point you make is a good observation, in that if you haven't read the book, there's no real explanation for the killer's dogged and bloody pursuit. I really think the Coen's tried to show it rather than tell it. As best as I was able to extract from McCarthy's novel, Churgar is a man so dangerous, those that hire him fear for their lives. But once he decides you need to die, his sick mind won't allow him to change his course, as if fate has already put him in your path and he must follow through. Only in the rare offering of the coin toss (and this is apparently if there's SOME slight thing about your pleading that "moves" him) do you have any kind of chance to live. I think he's a metaphor of the mirror of a moral society represented in this case by the sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones). That's just my feeling. As I said, they were SO TRUE to the novel that I think the movie left many in the audience wanting, but in the bigger picture (pun not intended) I think they raise more universal questions by leaving us with unanswered questions.
Thanks, Joe. Wish they could have gotten that in there somehow. Maybe Jones could have verbalized it at some point. I think that would have worked.
Hey Joe,
Just saw NCFOM yesterday and I found it interesting, but as you suggest, it left me wanting. I did not have the advantage of reading the book prior to seeing the flick – so I will assume that background and character detail was omitted in the translation to film, as is often the case. Maybe the Coen’s just needed a better interpretor (screenwriter).
I have to admit that I was anticipating something more along the lines of their film Fargo – a dark story with quirky characters and a touch of the Coen bros trademark humor to lighten things up a bit.
No Country for Old Men certainly isn't a pick-me-up. It's raw, even depressing, and I am not a fan of the abrupt, fill-in-your-own ending (like Sopranos, yuck).
Oh, and definitely leave the wife or girlfriend home – unless she shares your appreciation of edgy violence.
I saw the movie right after reading the book. It was so verbatim that I felt if you read the book you didn’t need to see the film and vise versa.
In addition, Woody Harrelson’s performance was simply terrible.
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