Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin) flees across Texas with a cache of stolen drug money, hotly pursued by Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) and assassin Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) ordered to recover the missing loot at any cost.
Adapted from Cormac McCarthy's 1980 set novel, this is brothers Joel and Ethan Coen's twelfth film directing together. Touted as their new Fargo, it was recent winner of Best Screenplay at the American Golden Globes.
They say:
Rolling Stone: "The Coens squeeze us without mercy in a vice of tension and suspense."
Time: "Less an assault on our sensibilities than a subtle — and possibly permanent — insinuation into our consciousnesses."
Empire: "Violent, poetic, gripping, thrilling and blackly funny."
We say:
No Country for Old Men is a calculated, amoral masterpiece - as cold and clean as the executions it so frequently exhibits.
Even though it's an adaptation, no one could ever doubt the Coen Brothers' anomalous stamp is all over this film like dust from a desert storm.
The pair has made little changes from the source material - they have such confidence in their creative abilities they do not need to tinker for the sake of it.
Nothing here pans out the way you expect - your attention is demanded at all times. Yet the story soon sucks you into its world - one so painful and unbearably tense that it should come with a health warning. Anyone of a nervous disposition would be advised to take Valium and a stiff drink before viewing.
The narrative is revealed logically and, for the first twenty minutes, sedately. As the plot progresses, you realise that not one moment is wasted - each new scene grips tighter than the last.
Above all it is the truthful characters that mesmerise most. You cannot help but judge them by your own standards - what would you do in the same impossible situation? They may not be perfect - the astounding Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh might just be playing the remotest psychopath ever to have bloodied the screen - but all are intrinsically human.
Tommy Lee Jones is more support than lead, though his aged Sheriff endures the story's only real conscience. His unfolding guilt is the heart of the picture.
Josh Brolin ably portrays the everyman, a chance fugitive on unfamiliar streets harbouring a bag of pilfered cash and a plan. Out of his depth, but up for the challenge. It's a career best performance.
You may recognise Llewellyn's wife Carla as Scottish actress Kelly MacDonald of Trainspotting fame. Her gentle poise counterpoints the glut of male adversity by strength of character rather than strength of frame. Carla is the only person ever to face Chigurh with no fear in her eyes.
As events draw to a reflective close, some might find the resolution unsatisfying. Though definitely novelistic, the structure bears a noteworthy similarity to cult 1973 noir thriller 'Charley Varrick' (Walter Matthau in the title role).
Like Varrick, Llewellyn is an opportunist on the run with more than he bargained for. Both have an unstoppable hitman at their heels and both are resourceful enough to persist. But unlike Varrick, Llewellyn confuses guts for brains - his plight sadly outweighed by a reckless compunction for the former.
Without overstating the case this could be Joel and Ethan Coen's finest work yet. A bruising, battering, almost religious experience.
CAST
Tommy Lee Jones
Javier Bardem
Josh Brolin
Woody Harrelson
DIRECTORS
Ethan Coen
Joel Coen
TIME
122 mins
POSTED...
Sun 20 Jan 2008 at 12:22pm
