NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

By Michael J Edwards / July 1, 2011

The Coen Brothers Based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Kelly Macdonald, Woody Harrelson, Garrett Dillahunt, Tess Harper Distributed by: Miramax Films & Paramount Vantage Film is released on January 18th, 2008. Review by Michael Edwards

rating: 5

Oh yes, it's time, week of release and I am finally allowed to contribute my meagre opinions to the hysteria! The names involved with this huge release bring with them a host of accolades, it's directed by the Academy Award winning Coen Brothers, based on a novel by Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Cormac McCarthy, and featuring Academy Award winner Tommy Lee Jones, and Academy Award nominee Javier Bardem as well as household names Kelly MacDonald and Josh Brolin. Such a hyped billing screams potential disappointment, but I'm not listening. This film was absolutely superb! No Country for Old Men in a far darker affair than the Coen brothers are used to tackling, but it is not approached with any degree of caution, they attack the richly layered but tough to recreate work of McCarthy with all of the confidence you'd expect of these superlative siblings. The film opens with a quietly intense hunting scene with Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), which gradually leads him to his discovery of the scene of a shootout. All the fighters appear to be dead, leaving behind them a serious amount of heroin and two million dollars in cash. Llewelyn can't resist the allure of the money, but in taking it he unwittingly becomes prey to more than simple mobsters. His primary pursuer is Bardem's brilliantly portrayed psychopath Anton Chigurgh whose coldly detached brutality, relentless and twisted logic and sinister appearance make for some truly harrowing scenes, and his weapon of choice is nothing short of spectacular - providing many a gory scene. Llewelyn is also pursued more ponderously, less murderously, but no less intently by Tommy Lee Jones's ageing Sheriff Bell whose world-weary ruminations add a sense of inevitability to the outcome which unfolds during the drama of the chase. The plot is more than a simple chase movie and provides a vehicle for discussion greater themes largely centred around the nature of the 'Wild West', which is suggested to have grown more rather than less lawless as time progressed, and expanding to question the nature of morality in our time. The naive integrity exuded by Llewelyn in his desire to secure a better life for himself and his wife (played by Kelly McDonald - whose switch from a Scottish to a Texan accent is surprisingly adept) bears echoes of many a hapless hero of the Westerns of yore, and the unstoppable brutality of Chigurgh with its occasional and strange use of a coin-toss to determine who should live or die does as much to question the nature of evil as it does to give the audience nightmares! And of course Tommy Lee Jones is, as in the forthcoming In the Valley of Elah, the relic of times past: a monolith, a monument, and a constantly contrasting reminder of what was. This film, unlike it's cousin In the Valley of Elah (linked by Tommy Lee Jones, Roger Deakins and the discussion of violence), avoids the overt moralising and simply infuses its observations and discussions into an awesome thriller. The atmosphere of the movie reminded me of the Coen's earlier crime drama Fargo in some aspects. The bleakness of the setting was contrasted to the smaller inner spaces in which crucial parts of the action occur, and shots are largely devoid of all things bright and gleeful. This latter point is certainly worth noting considering that No Country for Old Men was shot in the blazing sunshine of Texas, mostly inner spaces were filmed, thus supplying plenty of shadows and silhouettes; and buildings, vehicles and clothes were on the whole muted pastel colours. The strangest part were the outdoor shots, where the sun should have illuminated all - in these instances the pictures were often bleached, removing detail and colour from the surroundings. All of this combines with the sparsity of dialogue to create a sensation on screen that is incredibly atmospheric, and really gave the impression of the tired resignation shown by Sheriff Bell at the death and destruction unfolding before him. Even the characteristic wry moments infused by the Coens did little more than drag a small (if welcome) smirk from me. It would be a thankless task to try to critique this film, any problems are surely going to be limited to perfectionists and inconsistency-spotters. As always I was mildly irked by the use of a shaky handheld-camera shot during one chase scene, though it admittedly worked well in this instance, and occasionally some of the tracking camera shots were quite unnatural in the way they hauled the viewer along lines of sight. But all-in-all this film is superb example of what a thriller can be, it refused the easy emotional devices to be found in many thriller soundtracks and concentrated on creating a general ambiance which transports the audience into McCarthy's dark world. The unceasing edginess of the cinematography, (Roger Deakins is really hitting on a high at the moment), is perfectly interspersed with some classic scenes of fear, gore, and psychopathic contemplation. In short, no matter who you are or what your taste - you have to see this film!

rating: 5

No Country for Old Men is out in the UK on Friday, and I will be uploading notes from a press conference with Javier Bardem and Kelly McDonald tomorrow: so watch this space!