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For a few days, I had been wondering how to describe this film and give you guys a review that would do this film justice. The Coen Brothers created an absolute masterpiece. In what I think is a forgotten genre in the 21st century, the western-thriller was truly a gripping film.
The lack of music in No Country for Old Men really made an impression, we are met with desolate silence. Sometimes we were absorbed into the atmosphere of the towns in Texas. It all meshes really well and it what makes us be present in the film. Very well done by the Coen Brothers.
Whilst hunting near the Rio Grande, Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) comes across a heroin drug deal gone wrong. I mean very wrong. Not only that, he discovers a briefcase full of cash in the wake of the bloodbath that had occurred from this drug deal. Moss seizes the opportunity to take the money with him and hopefully that will be the end of that.
Sadly he doesn’t realise that this has opened a can of worms for him, Llewelyn finds himself being tailed by a psychotic killer, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem). He's kind of like the Joker, fearless and fears nothing. Literally nothing. But he doesn't laugh, so he's scary.
In the middle of all this, we see the retiring cop, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) is trying to put clues together to the wandering psycho killer and the drug bust that had occurred (going back to our good friend Llewyln's discovery). You could see the gravity of the case and the dangers of Chigurh's antics through his eyes.
He didn’t even need to say it but I could see him saying, "I'm too old for this malarkey" (or whatever it is a retiring Sherriff would say. Don't judge me). I found his character to be the most human yet the most distant of the 3. It was a peculiar set up but one that was welcomed, nonetheless.
I do wish we had seen more of Sheriff Ed Tom in this film, seeing as he was quite an important figure along with the other 2 main characters. Despite that, I still think his role in No Country for Old Men was a fitting one. He was like the audience, the viewer, trying to piece the puzzle together.
What is also evident about this film is that there are comedic moments present in scenes where you feel as though you shouldn't be laughing. The use of the dark humour was very well thought out and what I liked especially about the film was that it was not overdrawn, nor was it overdone. The comedy was done enough so much so that you wouldn’t detach yourself from the serious moments of the film.
Another thing that I really did enjoy about the film, was the lack of backstory surrounding the 3 main characters. Normally as a viewer, you would like to know about the character’s life coming into the film, what they’re upbringing was like, why they may have turned out to be the way that they have. However, for a film such as this one it wasn’t going to be necessary. The writing of this was precise and such information was not going to be needed. Sure it would have been nice, but it wasn’t needed and it didn’t really occur for me to think ‘what’s the backstory here?’.
I would certainly recommend this film to you to watch, it is a thrilling watch for all to see. If you have seen the film, I would love to know your thoughts on this- please do leave a comment down below!
Picture reference: https://rowhousecinema.com/movies/no-country-for-old-men/
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