No Country for Old Men

My three favorite Coen Bros. films:

1. Fargo
2. The Big Lebowski
3. Blood Simple

I can't wait to see this new one. If it's as good as it looks like it's going to be, it might shoot right to the top!

It got great reviews on Ebert & Roeper. They said it was the best since Fargo & Lebowski.
 
My favorites are--

Raising Arizona
The Man Who Wasn't There
Fargo

I'm not the hugest fan of Big Lebowski. The parts are often immensely hysterical, and few films even approach it, but the whole doesn't add up to much. Granted that's kind of the point, but I think some of their other films are richer and more rewarding. Still, all of their films are immensely watchable, even The Hudsucker Proxy. My least favorite is Intolerable Cruelty.
 
Run, don't walk to see this film. I think it's their best yet. I was a little disappointed in the Lawyer one and the Tom Hanks one, and thought they had lost it. But this film is exactly what I would expect from them this many years on. I hope their work continues to mature like this.

Amazing.
 
Mark Harris said:
Run, don't walk to see this film. I think it's their best yet. I was a little disappointed in the Lawyer one and the Tom Hanks one, and thought they had lost it. But this film is exactly what I would expect from them this many years on. I hope their work continues to mature like this.

Amazing.
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Okay, Mark, that seals the deal!:beer:
 
Blaine said:
Okay, Mark, that seals the deal!:beer:
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Lot of the youngin's won't care for it I fear. It is very slow paced in many points, and there is very little camera movement. Lot of stationary camera.

But wow. Just wow.

I don't know who is doing THE ROAD and I never saw All the Pretty Horses(though with billy bob directing, I will pick it up), but it seems that they really nailed MacCarthy's tone well. It felt like his book. But like I said, felt exactly like a Cohen Bros film should feel at this point in their careers and developments as filmmakers.
 
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You mean it isn't just run and gun shaking camera hand held get as much coverage as possible and then edit it later ?
 
I mean there are not a lot of dollies, push-ins, cranes, etc. The Cohens have used moving camera a lot in the past, but this one is notable for how often the camera stays planted. Though they do go back to an oldy-but-goodie, sticking the camera on the bumper of the car, like in Blood Simple.
 
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SPOILERS!!!












for me, this film's underlying notes on death and dying (summed up beautifully by Tommy's Lee Jones' description of a dream at the end) plays like an anti-companion piece to raising arizona's themes of birth and childhood -- i'm always reminded of Gale & Evelle's birth-like escape from prison in that film. here, we are given plenty to think about in terms of our own mortality -- from fearing it to accepting it, maybe even to wanting it -- which leads me to a question I've had. Did Ed (TLJ), who could see Chigurh's reflection in the barrel of the hollowed out deadbolt, enter that room hoping to die? I think he did. I think he wanted to.
 
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Best film I have seen this year. The cast could not have been any better. Javier Bardem is one of the best 'villians' the big screen has seen in years, what a treat.



+++++++++++++++++++ SPOILERS +++++++++++++++++++






I don't believe that Ed went into the room to die, but he did go in there expecting a different outcome than what he got. Which is why he pulled out his gun.

He knew Chigurh was in there via the movement seen in the broken deadbolt. He checked the room and the only other exit was the washroom window which was still locked from the inside. The air vent had been opened after the cops closed off the room and Anton knew exactly where Llewelyn hid the money. Plus we saw the dime on the floor beside the grate.

Ed 'failed' to face his fate in that room, or we could say, he was given the 'heads' of a coin toss. He is no sheriff, he is an old man. As his relative said to him later on, things haven't changed, you just get old.
 
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Wow I LOVED the first hour and a half or so of this film. But then I felt betrayed.


Semi-Spoilers below.










Not just with what happened (those of you who have seen it know what I mean), which was disappointing, but probably inevitable. But the focus of the story suddenly shifts. We follow plot A for the bulk of the film, then suddenly that's over and we deal with angst for 15 minutes and a very anti-climactic ending.

Very disappointing since everything up to that point completely KICKED ASS!

I can firgive some things I didn't get (Like why Woody Harrelson's character even existed, or who Anton was even working for, or why did it seem like he was in the room when TLJ checked it, but then he just vanishes...) But mmaking me believe the story was about one guy until 3/4 of the way through the movie, then switching that and giving me absolutely no payoff...It almost seems like an amateur writer's mistake.
 
for me, the film had been about much, much more than moss, so diverting the story away from him simply felt like a interesting choice, not a "mistake". meaning, when it happened, i trusted the filmmakers would be taking me to a far more interesting place. and they did, a thought-provoking one. for me, the motel room scene in which chigurh vanishes is a gateway to making the underlying thematic elements (fate, death, choice) more literal. people don't "vanish", giving one much to consider.
 
Jim, there seems to be many people who feel the same way about how the Coen brothers decided to end the film. I have not read the novel, but keep hearing that the film is very close to it. So maybe the novel was the same way?
 
I get what they were trying to do, I just don't think it worked all that well. They treat the bulk of the movie like a gripping, intense story about one guy trying to get away from another guy. And they do that really well. TLJ is pretty much a reluctant bystander most of the time. Even when we are privy to what's going on in his head, it's revealed in a semi-sarcastic deadpan to a half-wit deputy. The movie never seems like it's about him until the end. He does the opening VO, then we don't see him for about 20 minutes, and he shows up in about 15-20 minute intervals for a scene.

But maybe that's just me. I'm a fan of the Bros Coen, so I get their quirkiness. But in a movie like Fargo, even though you don't meet Marge for about the first 20 minutes or so, you get a sense that the movie INVOLVES her. Her actions affect the story to some degree. Aside from talkiing to the wife and seeing moss near the end, TLJ never interacts with the other players. And nothng he ever does ever affects anyone else. If the film is suppose to be about how all of this is overwhelming him (as he states to a suddenly new character we don't even know exists until the last ten minutes of the film) then we should see evidence of that sooner.

But, that's only my opinion.

EDIT: jpeck, I haven't read the novel either and maybe that's part of why I don't get this stuff. But, as difficult as it is to adapt a novel to a screenplay, the film should not be a supplement to the novel, nor should it work the other way around. The film should be an independent body of work that does not require the viewer to have read the book to fully understand the film.
 
I agree completely with you about the book to film transfer needs to be separate entities. I don't think that was the 'problem' here that some of the viewers are having.

I was suggesting that the movie may have a similar ending that is found in novels and not in film.

For me personally, I did not find an issue with the transition from Moss being the main story to a convergence of Moss with Ed and Chigurh. There was very little character development within the film, so it is either a bad story or about something else.
 
That may be. I haven't read the book, but I have to believe that there is some thread in the book (if the narrative flows as the film does) that is missing in the film which keeps the reader more engaged in TLJs character.

And as much as I have criticized this aspect of the film, there is a A LOT to love. The dialogue between Moss and his wife is priceless, as are the exchanges between TLJ and the deputy: ("these two look managerial" Priceless) The lack of score is extremely effective, especially in the scenes in the two hotel rooms where you know Moss and Anton are yards from each other, and the film looks great. There were a few "I think I just soiled myself" moments as well.
 
This movie was like The Good Bad and The Ugly meets The Terminator meets Pulp Fiction. It was a great movie until the European ending. it just ended -- with no climax. Kudos to being different, but emotionally it leaves you hanging. I do love, love, love the fact that other than the Mariachi scene there was NO music in the entire movie. No melodramatic violins artificially pulling emotions from you which has become soooooo cliche' in Hollywood crap movies. Just sweet, beautiful silence. Ahhh.
 
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Just saw this today and wow.

Great film. I'm definitely gonna go see it again next weekend when it hits wide release and isn't 30 minutes from my house.

My friends and I talked about it the whole ride home. I was very excited for this film, and it was actually better than I was hoping.

Best film so far this year for me.
 
Mark Harris said:
Lot of the youngin's won't care for it I fear. It is very slow paced in many points, and there is very little camera movement. Lot of stationary camera.

But wow. Just wow.

I don't know who is doing THE ROAD and I never saw All the Pretty Horses(though with billy bob directing, I will pick it up), but it seems that they really nailed MacCarthy's tone well. It felt like his book. But like I said, felt exactly like a Cohen Bros film should feel at this point in their careers and developments as filmmakers.
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This is my top pick film for 2007. It's fighting against Eternal Sunshine to be my favorite film of the last 5 years.

I found it to be incredibly intense, beautifully shot, well acted, and greatly told. Similar to Fargo in the sense that it's a film that relies heavily on setting and dialect; however, much better than Fargo. It was mature and had a deep message that I haven't completely grasped yet. Everybody should see this.


***spoilers***




Regarding the ending, I was OK with that. I actually enjoyed seeing the entire theater look for more. It sort of said, "That's all we're going to tell you. You have to do the rest," to me and even though that can be a let-down for some, it wasn't for me.


The thrilling scenes in this film scared me more (or drew more emotion from me) than any horror movie I have ever seen. This was in part because everything I was seeing felt real to me.
 
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All I can say is Javier Bardem!

I saw this film late last night at the last moment - great, captivating with steller
pacing. I was very happy with all the casting, even T.L. Jones who I'm not that
fond of, but he was good. But Javier Bardem...

I'm not surprised the end of the film is being called European. but I really enjoy
it because it's honest, imo. Kudos to the Coen Brothers.
 
Favorite film of the year. Read the book a few months ago and the film is dead-on, including the ending. And that's not a criticism. The acting, directing and photography was fantastic across the board.

It reminded me of blood simple in a lot of ways with it's slow, tense, build-ups, and the number of "quiet" scenes.
 
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