No Country for Old Men [dir. Joel & Ethan Coen]

2007, 122 minutes
w/ Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem & Tommy Lee Jones
[The Coen bros. are "back" after a couple misfired with their best film since Fargo, a movie that ranks with Barton Fink and Blood Simple. as Coen masterpieces. Having read Cormac McCarthy's chilling neo-western in anticipation of the film, it's truly impressive how smoothly the story was put to screen, thanks in large to the three lead actors' wonderful performances. There are few actors one could have expected to play up to the role of Chigurh; and honestly Javier Bardem wouldn't have come to mind immediately: look how young and clean he looks in Collateral just two years ago. And yet he gained weight (or fat, at least), added the proper amount of aging effects and had his hair cut in what's possibly the most intimidatingly bad style possible and wha-la, the perfect looking Chigurh and one of the few actors in the world who could pull off his drawl, step and stare easily. Up-and-comer Josh Brolin seems to have been born for the role and Tommy Lee Jones delivers the picture's two key monologues as if he were McCarthy himself. The actors do not carry the load themselves, though. If you've never paid attention to sound editing or cinematography before, take the time to notice how crisply the bullets pierce cars and flesh and how perfectly framed Chigurh's encounter with Wells is. The plot itself seems written as if to be handed over to the Coens who instill adequately dark comedy ("look at that fuckin bone") and Hitchcockian suspense so that nearly every scene feels pulsing with life. The last twenty minutes or so veer slightly off from the novel's plot, namely SPOILS FOLLOW: in the climax of the picture when Bell goes back to the closed off hotel room to check if Chigurh's come back to the scene of Moss' death. The scene itself is open to interpretation but after reading into several theories I can't but believe that Chigurh was already gone by the time Bell arrived at the door, and the shots of Chigurh waiting in the room with his rifle were out of Bell's fear of death that is a major theme throughout the film. The picture also denies its audience as clean of an ending as the novel, which is a rather daring but ultimately wise decision when Bell gives his musing monologue about his father and death, and the screen blacks out. There was absolutely no musical score in the picture, making the credits that much more chilling.]

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