4. No Country For Old Men - Winner: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu - Romania)
The desolation of
No Country For Old Men is presented effectively with the lack of music. No character has a theme to go with their presence or to foreshadow it. The silence in Texas juxtaposes the philosophy of a tree in the woods falling with no one to see it. If you are being murdered, but no one is around to help you, does anyone hear your agony? Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) doesn't care if you suffer while he kills you. This is best exemplified when he is brought to a station after being arrested. He later on resorts to simpler methods of killing. A cattle bolt gun, albeit eccentric, and a shotgun with a sound suppressor. Hired to find a cache of cash, he is as relentless as he is brutal. A transponder allows him to track down the stolen satchel after a drug deal goes awry. The briefcase is stolen by Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) while hunting. Moss is able to get home without any of the drug dealers still alive stopping him. But he returns later that night to bring a wounded man water, at his request. This is when the game of cat-and-mouse begins. The hunter (Moss) has now become the hunted. Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) investigates the murders. Moss is hunted by Chigurh while Bell is on the search for both Moss and Chigurh. Joel Coen and Ethan Coen would go on to win the Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture. But
No Country For Old Men is not able to add a Golden Palm to the Coens' list of accolades.