Crime/Drama/Thriller
2 hours and 2 minutes
Rated: R
Written by: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Directed by: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Produced by: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, and Scott Rudin
Cast:
Tommy Lee Jones
Javier Bardem
Josh Brolin
There Are No Clean Getaways
The Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan, seem to have been as intrigued by westerns - both the American westerns of the 1930s and 1940s, as well as the Italian-made spaghetti westerns of the 1960s and 1970s - as far back as the starts of their careers. In fact, it can be argued, that no other genre or movement in cinema has played a bigger influence on them as filmmakers. Their films are riddled with tributes and homages to various films within the genre, so much so that it's enough to give Quentin Tarantino a run for his money. Raising Arizona, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and O Brother, Where Art Thou? are all films that are deeply indebted to the westerns of the past. But nowhere does their love for this genre accumulate more into a near-perfect homage than it does in their film No Country for Old Men.
The story, based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy, is on all surface levels a textbook western, despite its 1970s setting. A working man stumbles upon a pile of money, of course takes it, and is then thrown into jeopardy when the outlaws who feel the money is rightfully theirs come after him. But the Coen's take this rather basic western plot and take it to some new and ultimately deeply nihilistic levels of storytelling. From the beginning, we are introduced to the outlaw who will be hunting the story's protagonist as being a psychotic and deranged killer, who conjures up as many nightmares just from wearing socks and carrying an air-gun that Michael Myers achieved by brandishing a knife. We understand that it may very well be a hopeless task for our hero to compete with such a silently deranged adversary from the story's beginning. This lays the further groundwork that unfolds with the story's progression. Then of course square in the center you have the film's lawman, who is now at the brink of retirement and has seen and heard about so much monstrosity in the world he is losing interest in the duties of his job. And because of all of this, No Country for Old Men does not end on a pristine or satisfying note the way that most westerns, and even most spaghetti westerns, conclude. No Country for Old Men dives deep into hopelessness without any sort of care for the way one may feel regarding what is right and what is wrong. It is, again, a deeply nihilistic reflection of the world it represents - and it is a brilliant spin upon what could otherwise be conceived as being stereotypical western tropes.
The film is gorgeously shot by cinematographer Roger Deakins. The desaturated tones and earth-colored qualities of the sets devoid the picture of any sense of hope or comfort. Like the desert, No Country for Old Men is a dry and dusty film devoid of much sustenance - and I mean that as an extreme compliment. Most of the shots captured are still, and even those that are fluid are captured via dolly or crane. There is only one moment that Deakins noticeably utilizes handheld camerawork, and it reflects the jarring nature of the sequence in which it captures. Ultimately, No Country for Old Men is as gorgeous a movie as it is brilliant. The film's editing, by Roderick Jaynes, should also be praised. Quick cuts are utilized in very low frequency, but are placed where they are needed. By allowing most of the shots to run longer than most other editors might opt for, Jaynes does a terrific job in helping this film create the tension it desires and ultimately achieves.
And that is the most brilliant quality of No Country for Old Men, is its ability to build and create bombastic tension, and in some cases, not delivering upon its builds. Taking a play out of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, the Coen brothers opt out of utilizing a soundtrack or score for this movie. Instead, they allow for silence to be the ultimate driving force of the film's tension, and boy oh boy, does it ever work. Sequences of pure noiselessness create levels of dread that are absolutely palpable. The directors made excellent decisions in instructing their performers to fill the space with their performances in more ways than just their dialogue. And in fact, because of this, moments of extended dialogue in this film feel easy and comforting. This is most noticeable with Tommy Lee Jones's character, who can't seem to stop talking. We as an audience welcome the noise, because we have been conditioned by the film to fear the silence. The silence promises horrors, even if it doesn't always deliver on those promises.
The performances, as just stated, are all brilliant. Jones's aging sheriff is a joy to behold, and he conveys purely from the start that his overall disinterest in the lack of humanity that surrounds him indicates that he won't be riding in on a white horse to save the day the way that John Wayne or Henry Fonda might have. Josh Brolin is an admirable hero, and is completely believable as the southern, working-man type who just happened to stumble upon something in the right place at the wrong time. Similarly, we learn just enough about his character to find his heroics both understandable and believable. The supporting cast of Kelly Macdonald and Woody Harrelson are enjoyable as well, but their screen time is much too brief to amount to anything as terrific as what the film's leading men achieve. Then, of course, there is the film's crowning jewel - Javier Bardem as the sinister Anton Chigurh. Bardem's blank stares and deep-throated mumblings are so unbelievably terrifying to behold one can't help but think the man will never be able to achieve a performance as brilliant as this ever again in his entire career. It is quite literally lightning in a bottle.
With its gorgeous cinematography and competent technical aspects contributing to the overall brilliant direction of the film, No Country for Old Men remains a motion-picture fraught with tension in the most masterful ways. With this homage to the westerns of the past, filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen achieve what is quite assuredly their most brilliant film to date.
9.5/10
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