“No Country for Old Men”
Starring: Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Kelly McDonald
4 stars out of 4
With “No Country for Old Men” the Coen Brothers have not only made the best film of 2007, but have crafted there best film as a whole, even surpassing there 1996 masterpiece “Fargo.” This film may solidify there spot as two of the greatest American directors working in the business, they made a few un-memorable films after “Fargo”, but have smoothly landed on there feet with this haunting and suspenseful work of art.
The film takes place in Texas in the 1980’s; the rural lands have been rid of ranchers and instead have been filled with drug runners. One day a good-ol boy named Llewelyn Moss played by Josh Brolin is hunting antelope near the Rio Grande; instead of catching game he stumbles upon a half dozen dead bodies and a drug deal gone wrong. He also finds 2 million in cash, and takes off with it. He makes the mistake of returning later that night to lend one of the wounded some much needed water, but this time there are men waiting for him, and the chase begins. Not only do the Mexicans want the money from him, but so does a psychopath named Anton Chigurgh played eerily by Javier Bardem, in an award winning performance. Chigurgh has his own motives, and will kill anything that comes between him and the money that Moss has. Moss is a savvy and knowledge welder who experienced two tours in Vietnam; he’s married to a younger girl named Carla-Jean played by British actress Kelly McDonald. Without giving too much away, the cat and mouse game that takes place between Chigurgh and Moss is brilliant, as soon as Moss stumbled upon the money he knew his life would change that instant, but he didn’t know the nature of what was chasing him. Javier Bardem has made his career in foreign, and independent films, this is truly his breakthrough performance. His character Anton Chigurgh may be the best villain to appear on screen since Anthony Hopkins played Hannibal Lector. Chigurgh’s character is invincible, psychopathic, and un-relentless all at the same time.
I haven’t even mentioned the performance turned in by the reliable veteran Tommy Lee Jones, who plays Sheriff Ed Tom Bell. Ed Tom is having a hard time fathoming the amounts of violence that are taking place, and can’t understand how it snuck up on him so fast, he comes from a family of cops, his father, and his grandfather were cops also. Tommy Lee Jones graces the screen in each of his scenes as he is always one step behind the doings of Moss and Chigurgh, he’s set to retire soon, as he feels out of place and out of time in this chaotic and violent world. All of the performances turned in are top notch, Brolin and Bardem don’t miss a note in there respective roles. After seeing the film, it was hard to get Bardem’s performance out of my head, extremely scary and chilling. “No Country for Old Men” isn’t for everyone; it’s truly for those who can appreciate the finer elements of film. The Coen Brothers do many things in this epic crime tale, but one thing they do not do is wrap everything up in a pretty bow for the audience at the end. There are many underlining themes that one must grasp in order to appreciate the film as a whole, themes of death, redemption, and fate just to name a few.
Even though the film season isn’t over yet, I can’t imagine seeing a better film the rest of the year, “No Country for Old Men” is as good as it gets, this is one film you don’t want to miss, as it reaches levels of philosophical commentary, and a vast meditation on violence and death. The effective use of cinematography in the lonely desert, the brilliant use of no score, only relying on sounds the characters create to build tension and suspense creates a Hitchcockian feel to much of the film. This movie is truly mind-blowing; it hits you right in the gut and doesn’t let up. I have heard many complaints of people saying they enjoyed the movie up until the ending, let me just say that I had no problem with it. This film was too deep to only see one time, I can’t wait to pick it apart and analyze more with repeated viewings. Javier Bardem has the statue in the bag for best supporting actor, and the film will be nominated for Best Picture, Director, Editing, Adapted Screenplay, and Cinematography.
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