No Country for Old Men

[cmt2779]

The Coen brothers' No Country for Old Men, adapted from Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same name, is one of the best movies I've seen this year.

After relatively weak films like Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers, No Country for Old Men reasserts the brilliance of the Coen brothers. The cinematography is hauntingly beautiful and evocative

Comments

[li_kao]

This is not an easy film, leaving as it did at least half of the mostly full theater confused and uneasy at its conclusion, but it is a stunning one.

I heard quite a few exasperated noises from the crowd once the credits rolled. It wasn't up to the level of what I heard at the end of 12 Monkeys, though: "Where were the monkeys?!" and "That was stupid; I knew exactly what was going to happen."). That those noises came at the end of the epilogue-ish segment rather than earlier made me think that a portion of the audience was thinking that a Hollywood possum play was in effect.

[cmt2779]

Yeah, I loved the ending, actually, and was quite frustrated with other people's so audible frustration (the woman next to me said, quite loudly, "That sucked" and I wanted to tell her to shut up).

I went to see the movie with Zachary and as we discussed the movie, he said the ending didn't frustrate him but it did catch him off guard. I didn't feel it was surprising at all, but I suppose the cadences of that last scene (even, the last couple of scenes together) are far more subtle than most moviegoers are used to noting, more literary than Hollywood, I suppose. Um, not to sound elitist or anything, you know. At any rate, that final scene felt cadential to me, felt very much like this was the end and there wasn't anywhere else to take this movie.

What did you think of the end of the film?

[li_kao]

I liked the end, although it did catch me a little bit off guard as well as I fell a bit for pegging Llewellyn's story as the key narrative, and I took the Sheriff's role to be mostly color commentary. I kicked myself for it, and for not giving more heed to the Sheriff's intro narration. I felt that the Sheriff's conversation with his uncle (or in-law?) was really the cadential moment, and that the retiree breakfast with Loretta was mostly epilogue.

[mckitterick]

I wanted to see this while visiting my Dad in Minneapolis, but his brothers didn't like it, and thus he wasn't very interested. Now I want to see it even more.

[cmt2779]

Cool. I'd like to know what you think when you do get to see it.