No Country For Old Men - A

In theaters. Rated R. 122 minutes. Trailer.

A meditation on criminality and the recesses of humanity set in the desolate and beautiful Rio Grande Valley along the Texas/Mexico border, No Country For Old Men is a powerful and satisfying film. Joel and Ethan Coen, who wrote the screenplay (adapted from Cormac McCarthy's book of the same name) and directed the film, are shooting straight again after a couple of errant bullets (Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers).

The film opens with a series of shots of the scrub brush terrain that are all picture perfect and set the bleak tone of the film. Tommy Lee Jones, as Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, provides narration over the opening with a discussion of his career and history as a 'law man'. We then come across Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) out hunting. He stumbles upon the horrific crime scene shown in the trailer, finds some money and the stage is set for the rest of the movie. The basic story of the film is a simple cat and mouse game involving the return of drug money. The familiar noir themes of good guys/bad guys and 'straight' men trying to act tough in the criminal world are there in spades, but the Coens manage to make it feel fresh. They seem to be building upon the themes of post-modern indifference to evil explored with the Peter Stormare character in Fargo with Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), a principled and psychopathic hitman/mercenary that serves as the cat to Moss' mouse.
Here is the beginning of my post.

The screenplay is the Coen brothers at their best. The whole film crackles with authenticity and the black humor that is a Coen trademark. Their voice and tone are so unique in today's film, that any one scene from the movie is easily identifiable as their skillful work. The interactions between Tommy Lee Jones' Sheriff Bell and his dim witted deputy, played perfectly by Garrett Dillahunt, are the most enjoyable parts of the film, with several laugh out loud lines. The lack of dialogue in some stretches is also effective, most notably the 'outlaw medicine' scenes about 2/3 of the way in. As a native and proud Texan, I can certify that the syntax, references and feel of the dialogue are dead on. The Coens manage to craft dialogue for unsophisticated folks that demonstrates their simple-mindedness while honoring their decency and reflecting poorly upon the more sophisticated speaker, in most cases Chigurh.

As Sheriff, Jones provides the bookends to the film as well as its anchor and 'voice'. He is a long serving Sheriff that is dumbfounded by the nature of crime that has begun to infect his county, and he struggles to comprehend it and what it means for society. His performance here is his best since The Fugitive. I have heard some praise his performance in Valley of Elah and pan this one, saying that his Sheriff Bell is just him showing up to work. That couldn't be further from the truth. In Elah, he is just playing himself as the brash and unconventional get-things-done army investigator. In NCFOM, he is introspective and clever, but at the same time bewildered and at a loss to explain what has happened to the world.

As the cat and the mouse, Brolin and Bardem are also powerful. Bardem is a lock for
a Supporting Actor nomination, as he should be. His Chigurh is the classic psychopath - one who believes he is justified and thrives on the violence. The way he walks, talks and kills are all part of the best bad guy in years. Brolin wins the utility player award for this year, excelling in Valley of Elah, American Gangster and this film. Here he plays a hardened 'Nam vet and welder with a wry sense of humor and a toughness only a Texan could possess. He also deserves a nomination. The other standout performances are Kelly MacDonald as Carla Jean Moss, Llewellyn's simple but clear-eyed wife and Woody Harrelson as Carson Wells. His character provides a great levity to the film and helps establish Chigurh as a true beast.

In every way, the film is intelligent and well made. The sounds of the brush cracking under Brolin's feet, the lightning flashing in the distance, and the boom of Chigurh's silenced shotgun are all perfect. The violence is extensive and innovative, including a great sequence where Chigurh uses a shower curtain as a blood spatter guard.

There has been some discussion in among critics about a dislike of the final 10 minutes. I thought it worked well except for the car crash scene, which I don't think adds anything to the film except maybe to speak about the randomness of violence. The ending sequence with Jones and his dreams is thought provoking, if frustrating in a Barton Fink kind of way (see the comments for the script version of the dream - not a spoiler). An exceptional film, the best of the year so far.

Viewing Notes: During the opening narration, I took great pleasure in the reference to Plano, which is where I was watching the movie. I also have to note that I had a perfect seat in the middle of a row, just close enough to fill my whole field of vision with the screen, and there were no other patrons within 20 feet - all hail the Sunday night screening.