No Country for Old Men

To me the movie also demonstrated the level of understanding one can get by embracing multiculturalism.

The scene where Llewellyn was lying on some steps in Mexico while a group of Norteno musicians gave a hint of what was going to happen to Llewellyn. The song they were playing had lyrics, as close as I can remember, that had to do with angels visiting, which implied that he was going to meet his fate.

Did anyone notice that there was no music throughout the film, except for the Norteno singers. Nothing to indicate or emphasize some dramatic point in the movie.
 
ReneH said:
Did anyone notice that there was no music throughout the film, except for the Norteno singers. Nothing to indicate or emphasize some dramatic point in the movie.
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For the most part there was no music, however, there WERE musical stings. Whenever something got really tense (and only on occasion) there would be a few drawn out notes. I noticed it, too.
 
Brandon Rice said:
Serious? Nope, I see most films.
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I remember you not wanting to see something a while back...

everyone said "See it! You have to see it!"

Anybody else remember what I'm thinking of?

I definitely take your word on that but something comes to mind.

edit - I cracked up at the Lady in the Water comment.
 
The ending blows. I liked what they were TRYING to accomplish, thematically. Really, really love that. But I think it falls far short of the power and perfection of the rest of the film. Too bad. Almost the best film I've ever seen.
 
bballplaya283 said:
I remember you not wanting to see something a while back...

everyone said "See it! You have to see it!"
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Could be he just wasn't into seeing a certain film because it didn't interest him at all...like me with Titanic. Everyone said I should see it...I still haven't seen it, and refuse to watch it...

SPOILERS

...it sinks at the end, right? Plus, I already saw A Night To Remember.

Everyone said I had to watch American Pie...that blew and sucked at the same time.


edit - I cracked up at the Lady in the Water comment.
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Just my way of saying chacun son gout...
 
Luis Caffesse said:
Not to split hairs, but to me the dime on the floor only sets up that Chigurgh opened the vent - it shows us he looked for the money, not necessarily that he found it....who's to say that the money was still in there?
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I don't think so... the Mexicans were in and out of there fast as witnessed by their exit. They would have had to know the exact hiding place, and I really doubt that.

Don't forget, earlier in the movie a small group of Mexicans (3) were in the same motel as the money with a tracking device and they never bothered checking the vents. Chigurh took them out and then checked the vent for himself at that part of the movie. (Setting up the later scene)

Move forward: They showed us the open vent and coin for a reason.

Besides, after that he continues to go on to track down the wife after the funeral. You can tell that he isn't even looking for the money at this point. She's mentions that she doesn't have it and he doesn't even bat an eye. He knows. He's just fulfilling a promise.

As for Chigurh being in the same room as the Sheriff... that's definite.
He's an old man and not up to the chase anymore. He discovers that while in the room. Hence the look on his face when he sits on the bed followed by his immediate retirement.

"No Country for Old Men"

He goes on to discover that life has always been this way, even back when his Father was young. Then he has the dream.... :thumbup:

Best movie I've seen in a LONG time.

Mike
 
Kyser said:
Move forward: They showed us the open vent and coin for a reason.
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Absolutely - and I think the reason was to show Ed that Chigurh had been back in the room... that Ed was right, but too slow. That is a much more important point to move the plot forward than Chigurh getting the money. All I'm saying is, it's possible Chigurh does not have the money. All we can say for absolute certain is that he looked for it inside the vent. But nothing tells us, for certain, that he found it there.

But again, splitting hairs - because it doesn't really make it a better movie one way or the other.

DeSica said:
...like me with Titanic. Everyone said I should see it...I still haven't seen it, and refuse to watch it...
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And I thought I was the only one!
We should start a club.
:thumbsup:
 
Luis Caffesse said:
Absolutely - and I think the reason was to show Ed that Chigurh had been back in the room... that Ed was right, but too slow. That is a much more important point to move the plot forward than Chigurh getting the money. All I'm saying is, it's possible Chigurh does not have the money. All we can say for absolute certain is that he looked for it inside the vent. But nothing tells us, for certain, that he found it there.

But again, splitting hairs - because it doesn't really make it a better movie one way or the other.
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Yah, splitting hairs I think.

They physically showed him in the room on the other side of the door so the vent wasn't needed for that. They were both looking at their reflections in the cylinder. If it wasn't in the vent... where was it?

I really think that since they continue to show Chigurh and he is no longer going after the money that it is assumed he found it. Otherwise he would be making a trip across the border. :)

It also makes the other scene of him opening the vent useless. Setting up nothing...

Irregardless, they didn't spell out a lot of things for the viewers but they showed us enough to put the pieces together.

Just my opinion though...
Maybe someone who read the book can chime in?
 
I also love how they both handed over a lot of cash for a simple shirt. I'm willing to bet that the money came from the same case. :)

Edit: To make it even more clear in my mind that he found the money... Chigurh never pays for anything in the movie. He steals and kills for all of his needs.

Until the end when he pays the kid $100.00 for the shirt.
 
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Time has obviously passed since he was in the hotel and found the money. He would have put it where ever he puts his money. He takes what he needs as "walking around" money, then goes out to finish business because that's who he is.
 
Kyser said:
To make it even more clear in my mind that he found the money... Chigurh never pays for anything in the movie. He steals and kills for all of his needs.

Until the end when he pays the kid $100.00 for the shirt.
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Well, I still think the vent shot was more about Ed and his being a step behind the entire way than it was about making it clear that Chirgurh found the money. Granted, it insinuates Chirgurh found it - but I still don't think it can be conclusively taken from that shot alone.

BUT - the shirt thing - THAT convinces me.
I completely forgot about that. Really good point.
:thumbsup:
 
Well, whose to say he doesn't always walk around with that kind of money? Besides, if Anton already had the money, and puts it "where ever he puts his money", why would he go back to the motel room?
 
bballplaya283 said:
I remember you not wanting to see something a while back...

everyone said "See it! You have to see it!"

Anybody else remember what I'm thinking of?

I definitely take your word on that but something comes to mind.
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It was Sin City, and actually I have seen it since then... but there are certain films I won't see in theater's but on DVD where I can advance past scenes I don't care to watch.
 
I don't know if this point matters... but Ed is in the diner talking to the other old man and chiming in as the other old man bitched about what the country is coming to... complete to "kids walking down the street with green hair and bones in their noses"... then... when they are out in the parking lot... the old man says to Ed... that Anton keeps returning to the scene of the crime... and THIS is why Ed goes directly to the motel after that statement... it's not like Ed was doing some great detective work and used intuition to go there... it's a statement from the other guy and the very next scene is Ed going there. If Ed came up with that on his own then he probably wouldn't have been having coffee with the other old man (cop or whatever that guy was).

In the context of this discussion about Ed's skill as a detective, I think it's worth mentioning.

Since the idea of Anton returning to the scene of the crime is the last thing mentioned before this new scene... well... you guys can fight it out. Does that mean that Ed may have imagined the reflection? Some say yes... I'm really not sure but my gut says Anton was in there... hopefully the entire time, because in my opinion that makes the story better. Prior to this scene they kept showing Anton and Ed being in the same places and seeing the same things... like the TV in Moss' trailer... they both had the identical reflection... so whatever...
 
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Jim Brennan said:
Well, whose to say he doesn't always walk around with that kind of money? Besides, if Anton already had the money, and puts it "where ever he puts his money", why would he go back to the motel room?
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No, no, no. I think you misunderstood me. I feel he went back to the hotel and retrieved the money. Obviously, some time had passed from the time in the hotel in El Paso until he went to Carla Jean's mother's house in Odessa.
 
MattinSTL said:
when they are out in the parking lot... the old man says to Ed... that Anton keeps returning to the scene of the crime... and THIS is why Ed goes directly to the motel after that statement... it's not like Ed was doing some great detective work and used intuition to go there... it's a statement from the other guy and the very next scene is Ed going there. If Ed came up with that on his own then he probably wouldn't have been having coffee with the other old man (cop or whatever that guy was).

In the context of this discussion about Ed's skill as a detective, I think it's worth mentioning.
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I think I may have mentioned that part in an earlier post as an example of Ed being a step or two slower in his later years.

The idea of going back hits him just as you say, due to the statement the other old lawman makes...you can see the look on Ed's face as it dawns on him. It didn't even cross the other cop's mind to go back to the motel, and he was the one who made the observation.

Both those men don't quite grasp the landscape they find themselves in anymore. They don't understand their prey....so they can't track it effectively anymore. I thought it was interesting how he never wanted to visit a scene or talk with new people on the case. He always felt it was a waste of time and that nothing could be gained from it. His younger associate keeps asking him, but he waves it off.

It is as if he isn't so keen on the small elements of the hunt anymore...and though it comes across as experience, maybe it is a lack of motivation due to getting older.

Moss is introduced to us in a hunting scene, comes up short, and then he eventually becomes the hunted. Woody is a hunter, too...who falls prey to his game after underestimating it.

There is a real strong theme there.

Ed may have been an old lion that had to abandon the pride and give up the hunt because he wasn't up to it anymore. Old lions get chased off by younger, stronger, quicker ones...they hunt alone and find life difficult, if I remember my nature documentaries correctly.

So now Ed leaves this world to the younger, swifter men...he actually has to discuss what he might do for the day with his wife. I think that shows the futility with which he views his new lot in life. And the night before he dreams of a dead father and his own mortality...and a day that he once thought distant, looms ever closer.

I think the whole thing hits him in the gut at a certain point, and he knows he isn't what he once was...or what he felt himself to be. He feels irrelevant to the whole situation.

The old man in the shack makes him see that his own lifetime is nothing in the grander scheme of things, and that events will progress, and pass him by, just as they have always done. His refusal to accept would just be his ego talking....his time as a cop is coming to an end, just as everyone's time on this earth must. Ed is forced to see himself as part of the group the man in shack belongs to.

He's an old man.

I think the old guy in the shack is quite an interesting character. His body and surroundings have decayed, but his mind is sharp as a tack, and he tells a story that happened almost 80 years ago. It might be meant to show an acceptance of aging and the passing of time, or to serve as some sort of figure to Ed of the passing of time and the effect it has is inevitable. It will happen to him, too, no matter what he thought previously.

Either way, he sees things differently at that point, but the old man seems to have known all along and found peace with it. Now Ed has to stop doing what he did for so long and do something else...or nothing of any consequence, if you look at it through his eyes.

Now he is just a spectator.

So what is left in life for him, really?
 
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