Day 69 No Country for Old Men [2007]
Screenplay Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Based on ‘No
Country for Old Men’ by Cormac McCarthy
Director Joel
Coen & Ethan Coen
Cinematography Roger
Deakins
Music Carter
Burwell
Leads Tommy Lee Jones,
Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson, Kelly Macdonald, Stephen Root
Production Scott Rudin Productions, Mike
Zoss Productions
IMDb 8.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes 93%
This should go down as one of the greatest films
in history and I’m sure it is listed as such by a fair few people. It’s
perfection. Well, the music (or lack of it) could be better, but it suits the
film perfectly so perhaps it isn’t worth thinking about. It reminded me of Space
Odyssey a bit in that regard – where it can be more effective to use less
music. It allows you to appreciate the film itself and is a far way away from
the incredible soundtrack of O Brother. From the opening shots of Texas
grasslands and desert, with Lee Jones’ narration delivered with such
perfection, we know it’s a good film. That narration alone justifies the title
of the movie, but I’ll let you decide whether the movie as a whole works with
the title, ripped off from a Yeats poem. I also felt inklings of The Good,
the Bad and the Ugly, as rather than the plot being especially intricate,
the beauty of this film is in its characters. We follow Llewelyn Moss (Brolin),
a Texas native and Vietnam veteran who finds a drug deal gone wrong whilst out
hunting and a briefcase containing 2 million dollars. Anton Chigurh is a hitman
who has been hired to recover the money and Bardem plays the villain incredibly
well. Without him the film would not be what it is as his character is
potentially one of the greatest film characters of all time – him and his
weapons of choice, a captive bolt pistol and a suppressed semi-auto shotgun,
wreak havoc upon police officers, gangsters and many others along the way. You
would usually associate his lack of remorse with a crazier man, but his calm
manner is what makes Chigurh so terrifying. He is so methodical that even a
bone sticking out of his arm does not faze him. I think the scene with him and
the gas station clerk has to be one of my favourite scenes ever (new feature to
the blog coming soon). I’ve got this far, and I haven’t even mentioned the
unstoppable Roger Deakins who once again gives us the gift of his masterful
camera work. Together with the Coen’s direction and editing, the wonderful
acting, and an engaging story, it truly is a delicious recipe. I'm not going to explain the plot any more because I think you should just go and watch it if you haven't already. Fault it. Go on.
I dare you.
Acting 4
/ 4
Writing 4
/ 4
Cinematography 4
/ 4
Music 2.5
/ 4
HMD
rating 4 / 4