by RSJ
Stars:
Josh Brolin
Tommy Lee Jones
Javier Bardem
I believe that no film can be executed with absolute perfection nor should any director attempt to even try to achieve this. Some do, but more often than not, lose sight of the larger picture. But if there ever was a recent example of any film that comes close enough, then the Coen Brothers ‘No Country for Old Man’ would be it.
A down on his luck Vietnam veteran, Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) stumbles upon a cross border drug deal gone bad. With members of both parties strewn with bullets, only a lone survivor remains. He leaves the dying Mexican and discovers nearby a 2 million dollar cache of money. He does what any ‘down on his luck Vietnam veteran’ would do; he takes the drug money and runs.
But the real owners of the cash are obviously not happy, and engage the services of a cold and calculated psychotic killer, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), who just happens to be lurking around killing innocent people. The killer’s strange tool of choice is a gas tank that shoots and sucks back in a projectile which leaves his victims with a fatal but mysterious blow.
Finally, enter Tommy Lee Jones, who portrays the stone-faced small town sheriff, Ed Bell who believes he has seen it all but as the violence begins to slowly explode around him, he is often left baffled merely able to only pick up the leftover pieces.
The storyline of ‘No Country for Old Men’ seems almost too simple and straight forward. You get nothing explaining any past events only a generous chunk of the present where everything takes place.
What it does provide though is ample room to amplify the interaction between the distinct main characters all of whom are equally showcased on screen. It is three detail stories slowly being pulled fatefully together.
The dialogue that results is rich although there is actually very little exchange between the main characters. In fact, the philosophical Sheriff Bell is very much a third-person never actually meeting Moss or the killer in the face.
Brolin, Jones and Bardem all give impeccable performances. But it is Bardem’s merciless and twisted killer, although not quite as complicated as Mr. Hannibal Lector, but eerily cold, which gets top marks.
All of this is then set in a visual feast of perfectly articulated shots, often slowing down to almost a standstill before breaking loose into full-blown violence and destruction. Somehow, the Coen brothers leave nothing to chance nurturing each scene like an individual masterpiece. They do this so well that you may fail to realise that the whole movie actually lacks a music soundtrack. The silence must be deafening!
What results is a tightly knit, thoroughly entertaining fare, excelling in every aspect. Deliciously good!
A down on his luck Vietnam veteran, Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) stumbles upon a cross border drug deal gone bad. With members of both parties strewn with bullets, only a lone survivor remains. He leaves the dying Mexican and discovers nearby a 2 million dollar cache of money. He does what any ‘down on his luck Vietnam veteran’ would do; he takes the drug money and runs.
But the real owners of the cash are obviously not happy, and engage the services of a cold and calculated psychotic killer, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), who just happens to be lurking around killing innocent people. The killer’s strange tool of choice is a gas tank that shoots and sucks back in a projectile which leaves his victims with a fatal but mysterious blow.
Finally, enter Tommy Lee Jones, who portrays the stone-faced small town sheriff, Ed Bell who believes he has seen it all but as the violence begins to slowly explode around him, he is often left baffled merely able to only pick up the leftover pieces.
The storyline of ‘No Country for Old Men’ seems almost too simple and straight forward. You get nothing explaining any past events only a generous chunk of the present where everything takes place.
What it does provide though is ample room to amplify the interaction between the distinct main characters all of whom are equally showcased on screen. It is three detail stories slowly being pulled fatefully together.
The dialogue that results is rich although there is actually very little exchange between the main characters. In fact, the philosophical Sheriff Bell is very much a third-person never actually meeting Moss or the killer in the face.
Brolin, Jones and Bardem all give impeccable performances. But it is Bardem’s merciless and twisted killer, although not quite as complicated as Mr. Hannibal Lector, but eerily cold, which gets top marks.
All of this is then set in a visual feast of perfectly articulated shots, often slowing down to almost a standstill before breaking loose into full-blown violence and destruction. Somehow, the Coen brothers leave nothing to chance nurturing each scene like an individual masterpiece. They do this so well that you may fail to realise that the whole movie actually lacks a music soundtrack. The silence must be deafening!
What results is a tightly knit, thoroughly entertaining fare, excelling in every aspect. Deliciously good!
3 comments:
pinjammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
hey, who's RSJ?
btw, sneak rating for the Zohan: it's pretty darn hilarious. kids loved it too
Tis is one of the movie of which the meaning is underlying.. u need to really understand the message it wanted to bring across......
The overall feeling after watching : Empty...
the protaganist should be the Chief (Tom), feeling disappointed, pondering the 2 serious flaw /failure in his life....
1st – that he’s lost some money
(He was afterall, searching for the illegal money too !)
2nd – that he’s covered in blanket on a snow cold nite in d mountains where his dad ‘rode pass me & kept on goin’ ( Remember the scene when he last spoke to his wife).... pay attention here.... what he actually means
dream reference, words chosen i.e.;
mountains, moonlight, horse ridin & rode pass – elevation & height meaning one is higher & d other lower
horns, fire signifying cattle, so wot’s dat, meat, food chain, and regeneration as in horny with fire of lust, sex leads to babies ..
hence Tom has 2 serious flaws in life ..two failures and in comparison
His career, his failure in saving Llewelyn & failure on the capture of Anton well that’s peanuts as in loss of money
His family life, now that’s whopper, cos apart from Tom’s wife
there's only d crippled uncle who can't brew coffe but only offer week old ones but most important
he's got no children ...
as they come from a proud succession of law enforcers and patriotic generation, his is like the end of the family tree hence his father rode pass in despair & despise
End of the movie: Dessertation
hence the theme of shoving numerous 2/3 similar incidents with different twists toward the viewers & let them experience the difference in penetrations (as personified by weapons; non penetrating stun gun, shot gun with silencer) and magnitudes (the degree of injuries from minor to fatal injuries esp those on Anton by which can be nursed himself & ultimately death) ... so that one can make comparisons
& along wiv dis is also d 2 dreams as mentioned earlier ... which consequently followed by the last line … ‘and then I woke up’ … only to realise that this is“No country for Old Men”
at the end Tom has under achieved … weary & in a state of discontent and deflated ...now that’s the marvel as it's purposely so in order to personify the anticlimax, leaving the viewer in disgust, despair as in moral deflation
Regards
Emily/ Quo from Leon
Post a Comment