You must have heard the buzz by now. Expectations are rightfully high for the latest film by the quirky virtuoso duo of Joel and Ethan Coen. Blood Simple put them on the map in 1984. My recollection of Blood Simple is dim, but I know it is a dark thriller about jealousy and murder. Often described as a Texas version of film noir; a man’s younger wife is having an affair and he wants her and her lover killed. Their second effort, Raising Arizona, didn’t get far away geographically, nor did it stray thematically (crime and human folly), but veered their career sharply into dark humor where it has largely stayed and flourished. Their next five movies (count ‘em! 5!!) were also instant cult classics. It’s hard for me to choose one favorite Coen Brothers movie. (The Big Lebowski has recently overtaken Fargo on my personal list, but I need to see Miller’s Crossing again…) In light of all that, No Country for Old Men is a profound disappointment.
Set in the Texas of 1980 and based on a novel by Cormac McCarthy, No Country can’t decide what to be. The movie is about a hunter named Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) that discovers the scene of a drug deal gone bad and two million dollars. He decides to take the money and run with his wife (Kelly Macdonald — Diane from Trainspotting). (Actually he sends his wife off to her mother’s, but the film would have been far more interesting if Llewelyn had kept her with him…) Their trail is soon picked up by parties determined to recoup the loss, one of which is a deranged hitman (Javier Bardem).
I might be robbing the actors if I didn’t mention the excellent work they all put into this movie. Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin deserve all the praise they are getting. Bardem’s pageboy-coiffed sociopath is a character that few actors get the opportunity to play. He plays it damn well. He’s been around for years but I expect this role to fling doors wide open for him. Brolin proves he’s come a long way since playing the jerky older brother in The Goonies and I expect to see him getting a lot more work too. It sounds redundant to say this but Tommy Lee Jones does a great job playing a Western sheriff. He’s far less stern than usual, playing a philosophical lawman. (I miss the Lee Jones that played Two Face in that one Batman movie…)
Overall it’s a solemn, gruesome thriller that is occasionally very funny. It’s also a police procedural complete with a sheriff who is contemplating the end of his career. It’s an examination of how not blindly adhering to rules keeps us human. It’s an uneven battle between one dumb, greedy man and a hundred well-armed, well-equipped criminals. It’s a comment on change and how much it looks like decay to the aging eye. It’s a realistic depiction of the damage that bullets do to bodies. It’s a sympathetic snapshot of America’s down-home, hard-working, simple blue-collar folk, but it can’t help using them for yuks. When it’s added up, the sum is less than it’s parts. Too many directions screws up the compass of this movie and not even a brilliant cameo by Woody Harrelson can save it.
I heard David Edelstein on NPR say that this was 9/10 of a good movie. He didn’t give it away, but as I watched it I knew the exact moment that began the final 1/10 for him. It’s as if the movie were written in realtime and that moment had coincided with the WGA strike beginning. The movie leading up to it was relatively polished, then the writers had to put their pens down to avoid union sanctions. What they were stuck with was a tacked-on non-resolution full of the preachy pseudo-poetry of a rough draft and the molasses thick irony of a Wile E. Coyote cartoon. Can’t wait to see how the Coen’s redeem themselves with their next movie.
I am on a portrait kick these days. It’s one of the many genres of photography that I have almost no experience with, so I am looking to my Flickr comrades for inspiration.
Pretty funny video of CG claymation-style animals discussing 
…I would be getting by thanks to a little of their help. Damn, I hate this time of year. Everyone is busy or out of town. It’s cold and won’t be warm again until May, which makes me even more of a shut-in than usual. Work is super slow and won’t pick up ’til February. Thank Christ for porn, GTA, Flickr, cheap beer, and putting plastic bags over your head while masturbating!
