Let's Watch "No Country for Old Men", FINALLY!

I had been waiting to see No Country for Old Men since I first heard word of it over the internet geek-o-sphere months and months ago. Well, I've seen it and I can honestly say it was pretty friggin' good. I wasn't let down in the least. However I was worried about all of the proclamations of greatness made by scores of other writers. Then, of course there were those writers that hated it; and seemed to do so only because everybody else loved it so much. I liked it, and the Coen Brothers have returned to form and do hearken back to the tone and style of Blood Simple.
In No Counrty for Old Men Lewellyn Moss, flawlessly played by Josh Brolin, happens upon a drug deal gone wrong. He decides to keep a satchel of money found at the scene and enters a world of shit when the intended recipient sends pipe-hitting badass, Anton Chigurh(Javier Bardem) to retrieve the cash. The local Sheriff(Tommy Lee Jones) tries to make sense of all the mayhem and sets out to find Moss before Chigurh does.

The Coen Brothers stay surprisingly faithful to the Cormac McCarthy novel. Only minor elements of the plot are tweaked and the rest is just omitted in order to save for time. As a fan of the novel, I was not at all offended by their treatment of it. In fact, they stuck so close to the book that there was not even a score in the film. I actually found it a bit refreshing not having music tell me what emotion to feel. This worked out absolutely brilliantly in a film with such an assembly of awesome actors.



It cannot be said enough how great the acting is in this film. Josh Brolin is officially among the finest actors working in Hollywood. I cannot wait to see where his career goes from here. He and Tommy Lee Jones were also in another of the years best films, In the Valley of Elah. If Jones does not receive some sort of recognition for his work in either of these films then I don't know what's wrong with the world. Bardem, with his fucked up hair, cold, dry wit and brutal weapons plays the psychopath role to a T. It's chilling really. If you don't know how good he is then watch Before Night Falls or Entre Las Piernas or Running Out of Time.

Let's not forget about the great supporting roles from Woody Harrelson who plays the bounty hunter Carson Wells and Kelly MacDonald who was as cute as ever playing Carla Jean Moss. My new favorite character actor, Garret Dillahunt even turns up as Sheriff Bell's deputy. Coincidentally, Dillahunt also plays a bit role in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford which I would also rank with my top films of the year. Fans of the brilliant show Deadwood will recognize Dillahunt as both Jack McCall and Francis Wolcott.


Now that I have officially name dropped a million films within one blog post lets not forget what this films achieves; other then restoring faith in the people that worship at the feet of The Coen Brothers. They give us a truly visceral film. Everybody says this, but it was beautifully shot. Sure the weapons that Chigurh uses are a little much but goddammit who cares, it works and besides they are just sticking to the book. It's a film that relies merely on the skill of the filmmakers to capture amazing images and actors to give believable performances. All films should be like this and I believe all films try to be this, but this is one of the few movies in recent months that actually does it.