Ken and I were in New York over the Columbus Day weekend and we saw No Country for Old Men. It was the centerpiece presentation of the 45th Annual New York Film Festival at the new Rose Theater at Lincoln Center.
In a nut shell, No Country for Old Men is a familiar tale of a drug deal gone bad and the struggles of a man who attempts to make off with something that is not his own. It is set in 1980 West Texas and the violence that is depicted in this period makes the Wild West of the 19th Century seem like a walk in the park in comparison.
The book is wonderfully written by Cormac McCarthy (which we both read after we saw the movie) and the movie is directed by the Cohen brothers who have a nack for the crime genre movies (ie Blood Simple, Fargo and Miller's Crossing. In fact some of the sequences were so very well done it was nothing short of shocking.
I was happy to see the this terrific novel make such a graceful transition to the screen. For the most part the movie was true to the book. The exemptions being the elimination of one character, another characters' philosophical soul searching was not expanded, and the ending was appreciatively and hastily conceived for the movie.
However, the movie does honor the topics and characters that McCarthy illustrates in his book.
The main characters in this movie are Tommy Lee Jones (Ed Tom Bell)as the sheriff of a small town; Josh Brolin (Llewelyn Moss) as the average man at the wrong place, at the wrong time; Woody Harrelson as a the hired hand; and introducing Javier Bardem who plays the memorable villain, Anton Chigurh with ruthless audacity. It is our opinion that this movie will become a cult classic, where fans will learn the words to the more memorable scenes.
The cinematography is excellent and startling. Viewers not having read the book will be captured by the situations on screen which are often hard to predict and will be afraid to look what they fear will happen next.
Tommy Lee Jones was excellent in his role as the Sheriff. And so was Bardem as the diabolical Chigurh.
The film editing is stunning; the score is discreet and foreboding; making No Country for Old Men pleasant to watch and listen to.
No Country for Old Men is an excellent movie. Please look for it at a theater near you sometime this fall. Ken and Len give No Country for Old Men 4-Stars.
Please visit us soon as we bring you Our Two Cents Worth at the Movies.
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