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[biscuiteater]

The worst movie of 2007.
Hi. I just watched No Country For Old Men, and then promptly took a shard of glass to my retinas. So if I make a spelling mistake, you'll have to bear with me. I can't see. Spoilers for the rest of the entry.

Comments

[agloriousday]

You didn't need to see any of those things. The main character died in the hands of the Mexicans as he was cheating on his wife with the pool slut. The money was never to be found because now no one knows where it is, not even the cold-blooded killer, who was still looking for it. The wife was killed because the killer wiped his foot off as he exited the house (he didn't give two shits about her life, duh), and nothing gets resolved in the movie (hello, real life) and leaves you feeling...

...like talking to someone else about it! WEEKS after you've seen it. It was amazing, admit it. What other movie can you say would make stupid people hate being stupid? I want that in a movie, I LOVE that in this movie.

[biscuiteater]

A movie of this promise and all the accolades it's getting, I'm gonna need a lot more plot other than oh, this psychotic guy wants back the money he lost. And this other guy has it and needs to get away. Seriously, that's all the movie was about. For 2 hours

[agloriousday]

The point is that no one can run away from fate. No one in that movie could predict what was going to happen to them, although they all tried. That's the unresolved ending that I loved. I felt like I didn't need any more of a point, it was very satisfying. But I can see why you didn't like it... I guess the same reason why I did! :o)

Hey, wanna see a movie with the worst ending of all time? Go see The Ninth Gate. I'm not shitting you, there is no movie that will make you want to unwatch itself more, and it's not even considered to be "bad." I think all people should have the experience of seeing it, to survive and tell about it. DO IT.

[uberdionysus]

I don't know that I agree that's it's about fate.

I mean, both Llewelyn and The Killer have an insane appetite to persevere and survive, but Llewelyn fails (along with Woody). That said, they always had a chance of survival, and Llewelyn's biggest fuck up (going back to give the dying Mexican water) was exactly what makes Llewelyn a moral man and not an amoral killer.

But Llewelyn wasn't fated to die, anymore than The Killer was fated to get hit by a car. It was a combination of dumb luck/fate, perseverance and skill. The Killer kept on going, even after fate fucked him with a car swipe. Llewelyn did not.

The sheriff, however, didn't keep on going. He just gave up. He wasn't fated to give up, but he did. He was ineffectual against the larger horrors, but his keeping on was a value in and of itself, even if he was always two steps behind.

[agloriousday]

Ok, not fate, but ... life's course in general. Some things weren't up to them, some were, some were mistakes, some were atrocities, but the movie's ending was like, BAM, you see? THIS is how shit pans out, whether you like it or not, whether you choose to face it or not, whether you like the ending or not. :o)

[uberdionysus]

Exactly.

[biscuiteater]

If I can find it online, I'll watch it, and let you know.

[agloriousday]

just don't skip anything. And watch it until the credits, otherwise you might actually enjoy it and NOT feel cheated, and that's unacceptable.

[uberdionysus]

Yeah, this film was totally in the modernist camp, and that camp is all about NOT giving you resolution. Most modernist narrative stress what you never get in classical narratives: ambiguity. But it also leaves the viewer feeling the same sorts of frustrations that they would feel in real life, or in the news.

But it definitely had an ending. And the ending was not only deliberate but had a lot to say.

[uberdionysus]

Exactly. It's not a movie for those who don't want to think, or for those who can't ween from Hollywood convention. It starts with Hollywood convention, but then deliberately rips that convention (and those convention's expectations) to shreds

[agloriousday]

No, dude! The killer showed up too late and checked the vent and was STILL in the room when the cop showed up. The cop noticed that the lock was broken then, not before, so it happened after the murder, and he wouldn't have been stupid enough to still be in the room, and the "good guy" didn't grab the suitcase with him and wasn't stupid enough to put it into the vent because he knew the killer would already know to check that. Money is not all the reason why he went for the wife, but he did seem like he got information from her telling him that she didn't know where it was.

[uberdionysus]

The Killer wasn't there! The sheriff goes in the room and completely looks around and there is nothing.

The Coens fucked with us (and it's the one part of the film that didn't work). They cut between The Killer, who had already been in the room, and who had already had left, and The Sheriff, who was imagining what The Killer did.

Supposedly, the book makes that clear, but that's one part of their movie that is NOT clear. (For example, if The Sheriff was imagining what The Killer did, then why didn't the filmmakers show us a shadowy figure? The Sheriff never knew what The Killer looked like.)

The Killer killed the wife because he promised Llewelyn he would. Despite everything, The Killer had his own intense personal ethics and he was definitely a man of his word. She didn't know anything about the money and he knew that.

[agloriousday]

"If The Sheriff was imagining what The Killer did, then why didn't the filmmakers show us a shadowy figure?"

They did show a shadowy figure, and I thought that's why he wasn't imagining it but the killer was just hiding.

And I think the killer didn't know if she knew. It didn't matter in regards to her life, but he was still looking for the money.

[agloriousday]

I now have to see it again to see if he's dressed the same or if he

has the money already? Or if he's even a little bit surprised by her not knowing.

WTF

[uberdionysus]

Yeah, I think I'm going to torrent it tonight. I need to be sure. I kinda want to see it again, anyway. That and There Will Be Blood. That film is a little similar, in a way. It's a great film.

I'd rather see them in the theater again, but at $12 a pop, there's no way in hell.

[biscuiteater]

Don't bother downloading. STREAM IT! In Divx/DVD quality. Seriously check it out.

Part 1.
Part 2.