No Country for Old Men

Brothers Joel & Ethan Coen, the acclaimed filmmakers that brought us Fargo over ten years ago brings their most vicious film to date, No Country for Old Men. As the film evokes all the Coen brothers artistic qualities as their attention to detail and character study, the narrative disenchants the viewer on many levels.

The performances hold the viewers attention, especially during the final forty minutes or so. Many questions are left unanswered and many issues left not addressed. Javier Bardem as the ferociously frightening Anton gives his most stunning performance of his career. As the psychopathic killer looking for his $2 million case, Bardem not shutters, loses focus, or disengages himself from us. As crazy and psychotic as Anton is, there is a hero in him that the audience just loves to hate. A great character study for the Coen brothers indeed.

Josh Brolin as the eager and reserved Llewelyn Moss brings frustration to the viewer based on narrative choices but Brolin powers through and gives his tantalizing turn yet. He does capture the culture of South Texas and develops it into a full on human being. The sentiment we find in Llewelyn is in his relationship with his wife Carla, a beautiful naïve woman, blindly in love with her husband with some many agendas.

Kelly MacDonald as the beautiful Carla brings a resemblance of Amy Adams in Junebug, and we know how that worked out for her. This dramatic turn as minimal as the screen time is makes a lasting impression on everyone. When you walk out the theater it’s her and Bardem that you take with you. That naïve persona, “twangy” accent, (we forget that she’s Scottish) and that wonderful aura of curiosity and worried factors make it authentic to life.

Tommy Lee Jones as the authoritative Sheriff Ed does an admirable job in his performance however, the first half of the film is the Bardem show which Jones can’t overshadow at all. In the finale, the viewer is so frustrated by the story that I don’t care that Jones is now bringing the humanity to his performance. The film was lively and authentic for me for the first hour and a half, after that, I started looking at my watch wondering when it was going to end. It does disappoint me that Jones’ best work was placed in the weakest narrative points of the film. As people may feel different with that end, my intellect left the building at a point of aggravated feeling towards the things left unanswered. It was as if the Coen brothers started the film on pg. 34 of the novel and left out Chapters 12 and 14 to give us the full story.

Consequently the film does work and has great achievements in cinematography and dialogue and is a threat in the upcoming awards race especially for Javier Bardem and Kelly MacDonald however, I can’t foresee the Academy jumping on this for a Best Picture statue. This is so unlike Coens’ brothers previous works but the detail and storytelling is pure Coen. A admirable turn for them despite the flaws.

Grade: ***/****