No Country for Old Men
Rated: R
Runtime: 2 hours, 2 minutes
Directed by: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Starring:
Tommy Lee Jones - Ed Tom Bell
Javier Bardem - Anton Chigurh
Josh Brolin - Llewelyn Moss
Woody Harrelson - Carson Wells
Kelly Macdonald - Carla Jean Moss
Garret Dillahunt - Wendell
I was frustrated by the ending to No Country for Old Men but not in a way that I imagine it will frustrate others. I was frustrated because I couldn't explain why the tonal shift and complete subversion of my expectations was absolutely the right ending for this movie and was the killing blow after two hours of a brutal beatdown. And I mean this fighting metaphor in a good way. Don't go into No Country expecting the offbeat style of previous Coen Bros. films. Think of the harshest moments of Fargo combined with Blood Simple and you may be slightly prepared before this film blows you away.
The story is a deadly chase which begins with hunter Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) coming across a massacre involving a drug deal and finding a suitcase full of money. Llewelyn doesn't let greed merely override his good sense as he knows how stupid and dangerous it is to take the money, but he does it and in doing so, puts himself on a constant defensive as he begins to run from the force of nature that is Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem). Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) stays on the outskirts of the story, providing much needed dry humor, up until the end where, as I said before, everything changes.
Chigurh will certainly go down as one of cinema's greatest villains, although oddly enough, the Coens don't consider him to be evil. They consider him to be an embodiment of No Country's world: "unforgiving and capricious". To me, that says "evil" since both of those things I would define as "bad". Of course, he's much more layered and fascinating than a one or two-word description and that's not only due to the Coens' skillful direction, but to Bardem's magnificent performance. Bardem is an actor who constantly has to remind you that he's one of the best working today. Every time you come across a film like this or The Sea Inside or Before Night Falls, a little light goes off and you remember, "Oh yeah. This guy is a fucking phenomenal actor."
But all three leads absolutely own ever frame they inhabit. Jones reminds us that when he's paired with the right material, he can bust your gut with laughter or rip your heart out with melancholy. As for Josh Brolin, this is his year. He was frighteningly fun in Grindhouse as Doc Block. He was captivatingly corrupt in American Gangster. And with No Country, he is sublime. He is morose, intelligent, wily, humorous, and deadly. If Chigurh goes down as one of cinema's greatest villains, it's due in large part to Moss being such a worthy adversary.
And then there's the Coen Brothers, the writers and directors of a film that many are already calling their masterpiece (which is a big compliment seeing as people call Fargo their masterpiece and before that, their masterpiece was Miller's Crossing). And it's their undeniable talent that makes it impossible for audience members to see this movie and then think "Oops. They had a great film but they lost it in the last twenty minutes. Oh well." You can't see the thought and skill invested into every shot of this movie and think that these guys suddenly became fuck-ups. With other filmmakers, that position may be tenable, but from the clearly gifted and mature Coen Brothers, it's impossible. While fans can argue which of their many great films is the greatest, there's no argument that No Country for Old Men is one of the greatest films this year.
Words by
Matt Goldberg
11.11.07