No Country For Old Men (First Viewing)

There doesn't seem to be an active thread on this film but I notice it figures in a few peoples' lists of films they wouldn't want to watch again....

Well, I definitely want to watch it again: I'm not a fan of westerns (this film is sometimes inaccurately described as a 'western') but within five minutes I was drawn in by the Coens' quietly confident storytelling, the (permanent) eerie silence achieved by the absence of music (good call) and the striking performances of the three lead actors (especially Javier Bardem).

SPOILERS AHEAD:

A few people have called this 'a film where the 'bad guy' wins' but that hardly seems right: NOBODY wins - Chiggur looks like he may die from his wounds at the end if he doesn't stage another 'incident' in order to steal medical supplies; and then he faces the whole appalling business of booking into a motel and tending to himself again. You get the feeling that that's how Chiggur will eventually die, even if he escapes this time.

The ending surprised me (as did the fact that the 'hero' died before the film's final 30 minutes) and I can imagine those who demand a 'proper' ending (whatever that is) being dissatisfied by it. But, if you think about it, we know all we need to know: Sheriff Ed Ball no longer feels he is up to the job (he isn't), Chiggur will continue as he does until he drops. We don't even need to know whether or not he killed Moss's wife (he almost certainly did), as we have all the information we need. The film takes you into the internal world of its characters, and that is a difficult feat....

So glad I finally got to see this film but I wouldn't call it a 'downer movie' in any sense.

 

Benidorm ( TV series ) did a spot on homage in a Special episode, very funny, brilliant in fact.

 

I love this movie so much I did a roadtrip to Las Vegas, NM, visited most of the locations in town including the pharmacy, stayed in the same hotel where Brolin jumped out of the window, stopped by twice the motel where he hid the brief case in the vent! I love NM and haven't been to Taos in 20 years so I thought it was a good excuse to roadtrip. Also I had wanted to visit White Sands since that excellent Willem Defoe movie. I regret no stopping by that Roswell alien museum.

 

SPOILERS:

The final Chigurr sequence is intriguing: after he kills Moss's wife (we assume), he checks his boots for signs of blood once he's left the house (he ideally should have checked them before leaving), then he buys the boys' silence and the shirt from one of them before stumbling off. This is not efficient behaviour, particularly as it starts a row between the boys as to who 'owns' the money. I think we can infer from this that Chigurr, too, is on the slide and that this is no country for him, either....

 

Nah. I got the feeling Chigurr would be fine because he was void of a conscience and cunning as hell. I figure he'd walk into a small "doc in the box" walk in clinic, say he had an accident (say fell of a ladder), and get the bone set. If he felt the need to kill the doc in the examining room he would, either way he would be out the back door and gone.

This film stirred emotions, especially for me the "call it" scene with the old man. A masterpiece.

 

But wouldn't it have made more sense (and have been more in character) to have asked for the kid's shirt, taken it, then shot them both? He was under time pressure, so he could hardly have played flip a coin with them. The offer of money struck me as being totally out of character (particularly as they weren't asking for it). Maybe he was getting sentimental (or what passes for it with him)? Still, at least he managed to sow dissension between the two friends as he stalked off....

 

I call this a film about someone who is not on screen the most. Tommy Lee is the focus (to me). He has some fantastic scenes. he's the one we're the most worried about, he's the one that goes through changes, he closes the film. The ultimate Coen goof on the audience: put the focus away from the main character, and make the psycho the center of attention.

 

I find the ending very satisfying and Chigurr's little obsessive world has been completely shaken up. The wife was pure, and her defiance...even if it ends in death, is so admirable, it really is something of pure and utter beauty. The look of confusion is priceless, and I could actually sit up and cheer it like Luke blowing up the Death Star.

Yet there sits the Sheriff on one end, who I would call completely and utterly lazy and could have prevented a great deal of the death that happened, and then on the other end you have Chigurr that is my book, a complete and utter coward. He preys on people that he deems weaker and unworthy without a moment of thought that in his twisted sociopath ways, he screams of hypocrisy. I always ask myself the one question. And who makes you absolute judge (as in ending a person's life)?

When the wife said something like "not like that, not like you say" in response his proclamation (and complete and utter LIE) that her husband chooses his vanity of revenge over her safety, she has him pegged so well. Her TRUTH is so clear, that in his evil ways, I believe in my heart that one day, somehow, some way, he will be judged. His stumbling down the road after being hit was a glimmer of this. I got glee in that final scene of his, and that is why I don't think of it as a "downer". I actually laughed at him with his shaken way having to resort to paying for a shirt from a child, the way he paid for likely killing a complete and utter innocent.

When I hear of people saying that she is foolish for not calling the toss, I think, and just how much does it take to sell out your mother/husband...yourself?? I don't call anything in the name of saving my own skin. If I am her, and I do not have the power to change anything, I will be damned if I am going let that punk or the coin decide my fate.

The only downer I get, is the husband (who I don't call a "hero" of the story at all???) might have slipped up by getting with the girl at the hotel. Although it is the genius of humanity depicted in the film. Still, there is no question that like Chigurr, the hiccup was him taking his guard down by being hit with something that took his focus off the task at hand. I think in lots of ways, that is parallel between the two characters....and yet there sits the Sheriff annoying as ever. He should have protected the wife many times over, but his dumb ass was just drinking coffee mooning away at how evil the world is. I say do your job, and at least retire knowing that you did one last thing right. It reminds me of Morgan Freeman in Seven, but without any effort at all.

Man I love this film, in ways that it twists me up inside. Of course it isn't better than There Will Blood which it beat at the Academy Awards...but I digress.

It was...because he just got nuked by the wife. He will never be the same. The "judge" becomes the beggar, and therefore the most absolute example of hypocrisy.

 

A great movie. Have watched it repeatedly. I think it does justice to its source material as well. I am a Cormac McCarthy fan and this flick satisfied me immensely. Now, if only the Coen would bring his Blood Meridian to the screen.

 

Yep - it's all in the title.

 

I suspect you may be right about this. About halfway through, I was under the impression it was a film about Chigurr and Moss; the top-billed actor seemed to be playing a very secondary (tertiary?) role. But then the attention shifts towards the end and, with the final scene, you realise what the film has really been 'about'.

 

Surprised no one's mentioned it but I too have watched this movie several times and can never stop thinking about the use of the "captive bolt gun" (had to look up the name) used as a weapon. It's genius! It's the first I've seen of this device and I'm surprised no other hit man movie plot ever used it.

It's the perfect weapon. No serial number and ballistics rifling to trace. Pretty quiet when it goes off and it looks like an insecticide sprayer when Chigurr is walking around with it. Talk about stealthy!

It's almost like sheer poetry in a "people as unsuspecting cattle" sort of way and that's also what I find odd and interesting about this movie. It made me take a different view of the world I hadn't considered. Now that's what makes a good movie.

 

Heathens! one of my favorite movies! that nearly wordless opening is amazing and draws you in. I love the book as well and just finished reading blood meridian by the same author (james franco has been trying to make it into a movie but its a tough sell, talk about dark!)

 

Did you have some kind of location list to use for reference?

 

Love this movie more every time I see it. The last time I watched it, the last scene really got me and I was in tears.

Spoiler

talking about the two dreams he had with his dad really hit close to home for me because I had recently been having dreams about my dad

 

Really enjoyed this film!

 

I don't get the sheriff being lazy or a coward. He's worn out fighting back the tides of evil his entire life and now realizes the work is never done.

 

Yes I did an online search for filming locations. When I travel I tend to work in something interesting. Earlier this year I was in Bruge and found most of of places where In Bruges was shot except for the hotel. That's one of my quirks!

 

Cormac McCarthy te author lives in New Mexico hence the settings. You shoulreally read the book. More chilling than the movie. Most of his novels are quite dark with moral and religious overtones

 

Wish they had tackled Blood Meridian instead. Now that's a riveting Cormac McCarthy novel...

 

The more I think about it, Chigurr reminds me of an Ayn Rand character; or like a perverted version of Steve Ditko's Mr. A. character.

 

I read The Road earlier this year and can't say I enjoyed it that much, though I didn't actually dislike it. I didn't find it as bleakly depressing as some people do, but I feel disinclined to watch the film, which is highly rated by a lot of people.

 

I agree. Chigurr has no future now. He's betrayed the cartel, he is now on "the radar" of the police, he made a rookie mistake after getting distracted and apparently taking some of the wife's words to heart regarding his actions (i.e. unforgivable and irrational). He, like most wounded animals, will most likely now crawl into a hole (or in his case a motel room) and die.

 

I've read everything he's written but that book took me five attempts before I could finish it. I am not squeamish in the least but I found the violence kinda boring and the lack of a moral conflict drained the story of conflict and tension. I want violence to serve a purpose and while I suppose that is the point of Blood Meridian, I found it a hard slog yet ultimately rewarding. Having said that, I still think the Coens should film it. Too bad Orson Welles couldn't play the Judge.

 

Like you, I could tell within the first 3 minutes that this was going to be a film I really like. I've watched it many times since. Chigurr is a fantastic villain. Great performance from Goonie Josh Brolin and nice small role for Woody Harrelson. There Will Be Blood is my personal best picture of that year but No Country is a close second. Excellent film.

I had no qualms about Anton paying for the shirt because he's insane but does have a code of honor he seems to live by.