The new Coen brothers film No Country for Old Men is an adaptation from the novel by Cormac McCarthy. Apparently it's a pretty faithful adaptation which is amazing, because it has exactly the feel of Coen brothers film. Maybe McCarthy borrowed from them?
Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) is a Vietnam vet, now in 1980 a welder out hunting in West Texas. He comes across the scene of a drug trade gone wrong and takes $2 million in cash. Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) is the psychopathic killer hired to retrieve the money. Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) is looking for them both and is always a step behind. Those are just basic plot points, this film is all about atmosphere and suspense.
Bardem's Chigurh will go down in movie history as one of the great villains. He's intense, devoid of mercy, and unrelenting in the way the Terminator and Jason Voorhees are unrelenting. Tommy Lee Jones is an obvious casting choice that works well. Woody Harrelson is one that didn't work for me; seeing him, I thought "Woody Harrelson" and was taken out of the film. Brolin is good too but overshadowed by Bardem and Jones. Jones gets to deliver the best lines, including the dry comic ones. My favorite was a long story ending with "Even in man vs steer the outcome isn't always known".
Much of the film has no dialog because it isn't needed, but calling it silent would be an insult to the wonderful sound design. Still much of the story is told visually. You don't need to see the fight to find out how evil it was. Showing the aftermath is enough when you see they even shot the dog.
Kenneth Turan writes, "It's clear that the Coen brothers and McCarthy are not interested in violence for its own sake but for what it says about the world we happen to live in. "I got it under control," a confident deputy says, and in moments he is dead. He didn't have anywhere near the mastery he imagined, and in this truly despairing vision, neither does anyone else. The theme of the film, told through some long discussions between Bell and others, is that there's evil in the world, there always has been and there always will be. My response to that is so what? Isn't that kinda obvious?
Roger Ebert says "It involves elements of the thriller and the chase but is essentially a character study, an examination of how its people meet and deal with a man so bad, cruel and unfeeling that there is simply no comprehending him." Again I say, eh. That may be true but I didn't find the "study" to be enlightening at all. Chigurh asks someone "do you see me" implying that will influence if he kills him or not. Are we to draw comparisons to Quantum Mechanics?
This is a great crime thriller and chase film. It's exquisitely constructed (cinematography, sound, acting, editing, etc.). If you liked Fargo, you'll love No Country for Old Men, though it's not as funny. Be warned that it can be intense and gory at times, similar to Fargo.
The first three quarters are straight ahead story telling; easy to follow and suspenseful. In the last quarter that changes a bit, so pay attention. The ending is not open-ended or ambiguous as I've seen some say. It's not obvious and needs to be worked out. It wasn't until a group of 12 of us started talking that we worked out all the details.
This will easily make my Top 5 of the year. Go out and see it. (Unless you hated Fargo).
* MASSIVE SPOILERS EXPLAINING THE ENDING *
Wikipedia has a good plot summary but here are some details:
At the bus station the Mexican asked the mother where they were going. From his conversation with the beer woman we know Llewelyn was at the motel for several days. The Mexicans go to the hotel and kill Llewelyn (we see the new clothes he bought and the boots on the body) but they didn't find the money hidden in the vent. Chigurh showed up later and got the money from the vent, using the same dime as he did before. Bell shows up while Chigurh is still there. The closeup on the window shows it's locked from the inside, not that Chigurh escaped from it (as I've seen posted). Chigurh is hiding behind the door. Bell sitting on the bed basically gives up and decides to retire. The mother dies of cancer. Chigurh kills Carla because he promised Llewelyn he would. The car crash is random. Chigurh pays the kid with a $100 bill from the money.
The only thing I had problems with was that Bell didn't check behind the door for the Chigurh. He seemed a thorough enough cop to do so. I'm assuming Chigurh didn't kill Bell because Bell didn't see him. I've seen guesses that Chigurh is supernatural and disappeared, but I didn't get that sense from any other scene. The other idea is that Bell knew he was there and at that moment he gave up and decided not to check behind the door. But that doesn't seem right either. I could see him giving up if the trail was dead, but not moments before getting him. He didn't strike me as afraid the way he previously ran into the shooting aftermath.
Glenn Kenny has some good Notes on the final quarter of 'No Country For Old Men'.
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