Javier Bardem and his hair in No Country for Old Men
On Wednesday night, I saw the new Coen brothers movie, No Country for Old Men , which opens in area theaters this weekend. I really loved this film. Even when it was difficult to watch -- there's a lot of blood and unsparing violence -- I still admired it.
Mostly, I admire the choices the Coens made to create a tight, atmospheric, tonally consistent story, even if that story is bleak and nihilistic. The source material is the novel of the same name, written by Cormac McCarthy, the Pulitzer Prize-winning chronicler of the West. I haven't read that book, though I understand the Coens stuck to the source material pretty closely.
What the Coens bring to this screen adaptation is a masterful exercise in dread and suspense. As audience members, we intuitively know how this story will unfold. We understand that morality and justice will not prevail, that in this story and in this place, evil reigns. But we are still invested, perched on the edge of our seats, overcome by the when and where and the how of it all.
All of the Coens' creative choices seem to support this exercise in suspense, from their brilliantly economic editing, to their shot construction, minimal score and sound design, the latter of which is devoted to silence. This film is filled with hushes and murmurs, punctuated by the piercing gun shot (or oxygen tank...you'll see what I mean) or the sound of ominous footsteps, here clad in cowboy boots.
The Coens have always been skilled at writing dialogue, especially the regional variety. That skill is on display in No Country , with lines that are stylishly colloquial and efficient in the way they reveal character.
The casting is equally strong. Josh Brolin is surprisingly good as a Llewelyen Moss, a smart western tough who finds a satchel of 2 million dollars among a slew of bodies from a drug deal gone bad. Throughout the rest of the film, he's chased by many, not the least intimidating of which is Anton Chigurh, played by Javier Bardem.
I was curious about this casting since I don't think of Bardem as terribly frightening. In No Country , he's more than frightening and it's not just the bad page-boy haircut (another fine choice by the Coens). Bardem is a towering man and his size and sickly complexion perfectly suit his grim reaper role. Chigurh is without remorse or conscience. A very sympathetic character says to Chigurh, right before he kills her, "you don't have to do this." Chigurh breaks his veneer here, not in sympathy, but in disgust for a universal weakness in humanity. He exhales in frustration, responding with "you all say the same thing before you die."
The most obvious bit of casting, which takes nothing away from its merits, is Tommy Lee Jones as sheriff-philosopher Ed Tom Bell. Jones invests Bell with all the wisdom and weariness of a man whose entire history is intertwined with harsh country and its stubborn inhabitants.
I'll definitely see this movie again because it deserves a second viewing, in the same way Blood Simple and Miller's Crossing can withstand multiple viewings. But I'm envious of all of you who get to see it for the first time.
For more on No Country for Old Men from KPBS, look for KPBS film critic Beth Accomando's upcoming review on her film blog . Also, listen to the Film Club of the Air next Tuesday, November 20th, where Beth, Tom Fudge and Scott Marks will share their opinions of the film.
