Rate NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

[abcdefz]

I am so fucking doubleplus stoked to see this (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/no_country_for_old_men/) this weekend. (y)

[The Notorious LOL]

http://beastieboys.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=84125

[abcdefz]

So what would you rate it?

I've heard both "no background score" and also that Carter Burwell did a great job.

Is there any sort of digetic music? Like, a street band or a radio or something? I'm confused.

[The Notorious LOL]

9.9

theres a small amount of music at some points. Like a mariachi band for about 10 seconds...maybe a radio here or there. Basically the movie starts without any real intro, just the title and its off...within maybe 5 minutes its already off to a pretty violent start. All of the scenes involving being chased are about 1000x more suspenseful when its silent.

[abcdefz]

I peeped into the book at the store the other day, figuring I'd read the first chapter or so just to see. Within, like, four pages the dude has
already escaped and gotten the poor stranger's car, keeping it clean. I was like, fuck, that's probably a good five minutes of screen time,
right there, and it's just getting started!

Oh fuck, I can't wait for this.

[The Notorious LOL]

yep thats basically the first five minutes right there.

[HEIRESS]

I wanna see it! but i have noone to go with! argh! looks so good!

[HEIRESS]

Im already scared to see it because we have so many tanks of pressurized gas at work so that hollow ringing sound it makes when its set down on the floor freaks me the fuck out.

[MC Moot]

^We're going tonight you're welcome to come with....very stoked about it....(y)

[abcdefz]

Im already scared to see it because we have so many tanks of pressurized gas at work so that hollow ringing sound it makes when its set down on the floor freaks me the fuck out.



It's supposed to be really gruesome, too.

Yikes.

[The Notorious LOL]

I didnt think it was all that graphic except for one part.

[abcdefz]

Well, I saw it.

Man -- for about the first 3/4 of the movie, it's pretty much perfect. I was amazed how beautifully directed this thing is. Just amazing. And the
acting -- hell, they even manage to make Woody Harrelson look good.

Then, about 3/4 the way in, it takes this narrative turn which -- I understand it, and it makes sense intellectually, and it's not as if the tone
has changed exactly -- but, emotionally, it's pretty unsatisfying. From what I understand, it's straight out of the book, but I'm willing to bet
it works much better as literature than it did as a movie.

It's still a pretty terrific movie, but... the way it deflates left me kind of depressed. I know that sort of elegiac, regretful, resigned sort of
thing is exactly what it's probably aiming for, but I was unsatisfied.

It's interesting, because if Fargo was, in part, about the inevitable progress of "good" as a force in this world, this one is kind of like
the inevitable march of evil.

8.5/10.

[MC Moot]

I give it a solid 8...(y)...I find it rare at a movie when my eyes /attention don't leave the screen to look at people or things around me....my eyes did'nt stray for a moment....I've been watching Javier Bardem's work since "Jamon,Jamon" and was amazed at how much his haircut changed his face....hoo rah for those hair and makeup people....great,great movie....ultraviolence be runnin through my head...I can't wait for "Killing Pablo"....(y)

[abcdefz]

HEY MISTER YOU GOT A BONE STICKIN OUT YER ARM
HEY MISTER THAT'S A BONE
GOOD GOLLY THAT'S A BONE

[Yeti]

I really enjoyed the film. I just got back from the theater. My mind must have been wandering because I was not paying enough attention to Sheriff Ed's story about his dream at the end. Damn! I will have to catch it again.
I just left the High Plains of Texas and the folksy attitude and wary looks of the Texans was spot on. I loved when Llewelyn walked back in the western store..........(I don't want to say too much about his appearance).........and the salesman said----how are those boots treatin ya. Ha!
Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh was atounding. His voice and stare gave me the willies.
There were so many great lines and scenes. I give it a 9.

Oh, if someone wants to PM me the significance of Sheriff Ed's story I will not mind. I feel like such a idiot for missing the point. I actually had a hard time picking up some of the slang in the film.

[b-grrrlie]

I just saw it at the Stockholm Filmfestival last week. One of the best films (of a dozen) I saw there.

[saz]

it's probably one the best films i've ever seen, it was incredible. extremely well done, unconventional, engrossing and highly entertaining. hopefully it's going to be considered as a modern masterpiece, the cohen brothers have really outdone themselves this time, and possibly snag some oscars. josh brolin's definitely got some acting chops, and javier bardem's character was the quintessential sociopathic badass.

a-z i know what you mean. perhaps it wouldn't have been so unsatisfactory for you if tommy lee jones had more narration.

[DandyFop]

Amazing. I love that they would switch it up so suddenly (I haven't read the book so I'm not even going to try and go there). That's so hard to pull off in a film but if anything is true about them it is that they are amazing at unconventional story-telling. Yeehaw

It however bothered me that Woody Harrelson was so good apparently and then he's just waltzing up the stairs and the dude is there. Wake up Woody!

[kll]

I went alone today and thoroughly enjoyed myself. It's always so refreshing to find another gem that restores my faith in the movie business.

[BBboy20]

It however bothered me that Woody Harrelson was so good apparently and then he's just waltzing up the stairs and the dude is there. Wake up Woody!Well, I guess Sheriff Bill would be right about "Sugar" like a ghost.

Now I'll wait and see what Day-Lewis has to offer for "There Will Be Blood".

[roosta]

Brilliant.

A masterclass in how to build, use tension. I was gripping the arm rests throughout.

Tommy Lee Jones for an Oscar.

[Randetica]

it was ok

for more information look at the 'what was the last movie you watched' thread
kthx

[ms.peachy]

This finally opened over here, so mr.p and I saw it last night. Well worth the time and effort of getting a babysitter. I like how it felt like you were just sort of getting a section of a story - like it all began before where the film picks up and then goes on past where it ends, you're just along for part of the ride. For such a long film, I really felt like the time passed quickly, as I was quite absorbed.

[BangkokB]

I wish Tommy Lee Jones would have gotten really excited for his last few lines bc I was thinking about how's Cowweapon Rockstar gonna get his way out of that one instead of some retired cops dreams

I liked it though: Open Ended and that weapon broke new ground as far as originality.

[afronaut]

See, for me, this is one of the very rare films where nothing was really "resolved" in a traditional sense, and I didn't feel pissed off or unsatisfied on the emotional level. It made perfect sense, intellectually and emotionally to me, and was the perfect ending; and while some people may not recognize it, I feel the film was resolved every bit as much as it would have been if the scary ethnic man had been caught. It casts the first 3/4 of the film in a different light, and certain things that occur in the film take on different meanings. It's impressive that a film can be so solid for the first 3/4, and then the ending reveals an entire new layer to the film, and is able to do that without pissing you off. It could have backfired, but instead it just makes you want to see the film more times.

And come on, seriously, name a more perfect screen villain than Chigurh. Terrifying. Perfect. That character, and this film, are bound for the film history books.

Sorry about the overuse of the word "film." I'm taking a films studies class this semester, and the prof gets pissed off when you call them "movies." So I'm getting myself used to calling them films.

[beastiegirrl101]

I found this to be a good explanation

"NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN is an ALLEGORY.

The title is from the first line of Sailing to Byzantium by William Butler Yeats, a poet classically trained and considered by many to be the greatest 20th Century poet.

Death is Anton Chigurh. His hair style (hood-ish, shroud-ish) and black clothing suggest Death. Death kills the innocent as well as the guilty and has his own set of rules. When the witness to the high-rise killing asks, “Are you going to kill me?” Death answers, “It depends. Do you see me?” When the kids on the bicycles help him after the car accident he tells them, “You didn’t see me.” If you see Death, you die; if not, you may live. Chigurh seems to come and go at will and seems to know where Moss is without trying very hard. His rules are his rules and they seem arbitrary and random. He is referred to by the sheriff as a “ghost” and he seems to be able to go wherever he pleases.

Death kills with a cattle stun gun, almost like a member of the clergy administering a cross to the forehead of a parishoner. Death is often portrayed as a hooded figure with a scythe; in this case he’s a “hooded” figure with a cattle stun gun.

Man is Llewellen Moss, part sinner, part saint. He is offered a deal with Death when Death offers to ignore his wife but take him. Instead, Llewellen challenges Death and chooses declines the offer. This is straight Faustian bargaining. By declining Death’s “This is the best deal you’re gonna get” Moss signs not only his own death warrant but his wife’s, too.

Llewellen challenges Death to a showdown and when his wife tells the sheriff, “He won’t quit, neither. Never has.” the audience expects a later showdown because we’ve been trained to see the protagonist take on the antagonist at the climax of a story — but before that can happen life’s randomness gets in the way and the Mexicans kill him. This is the major turn in the movie and the one that takes the sail out of the audience, which has been cheering for Man in his struggle against Death without realizing it.

Free Will is Carla Jean. She chooses at the end of the film not to allow Death to be random. She has a 50% chance of saving herself but chooses not to avail herself of the opportunity. She is the bravest of the lot, choosing to die by her own decision and not the randomness of Death.

The sheriff is the philosopher trying to understand the universe. He cannot and is defeated by Death in his attempt. At the movie’s end the Sheriff bemoans the fact that God never entered his life. One of God’s creatures, Death, was in the Sheriff’s life but he didn’t realize it (see “Scene with Sheriff” below). The story is the Sheriff’s, his quest to understand Life, and the dream he tells at the end of the movie explains that his own father, long dead, has gone before him into the darkness of death and awaits him.

Interesting parallel — Moss pays money for a coat as he crosses into Mexico; Chigurh pays the kids money for a shirt after his accident. What is meant by that? Cannot be a coincidence.

Chigurh walking away from the accident at the end shows that Death cannot be stopped. It will always walk the streets. It is a part of our existence forever.

Scene with the Sheriff and Death at the same hotel room at the same time but the Sheriff does not see Death. This scene is vital — it solidifies the allegory. The Sheriff enters the room but does not see Death and so he does not die. Death sees the sheriff but chooses not to kill him because he’s not seen in return. This scene is the “supernatural” scene which signals that we’ve watching an allegory, that what we’ve been watching is more than it appears."

[beastiegirrl101]

and why didn't anyone tell me Llewelen was BRAND from the Goonies....I knew I had seen him before.


HOT.

[The Notorious LOL]

the problem I have with the "death = anton" thing is that why wouldnt he have killed the lady at the trailer park office?

[adam_f]

Because she was sassy.

[ms.peachy]

the problem I have with the "death = anton" thing is that why wouldnt he have killed the lady at the trailer park office?

Good question. Maybe it has to do with how we sometimes come close to death and don't even know it, and just carry on blithely unaware (like Mr Magoo, if you see what I mean?). And there is also the scene with the man at the service station who correctly calls the coin toss - clearly that guy had a sense of unease that something bad could happen, but then luck was on his side and he 'escapes death', purely randomly.

[venusvenus123]

brilliant. amazing. coen brothers blast everyone else out the water etc etc.

i loved how the sparseness of the desert was reflected in the sparseness of the dialogue. javier bardem was fantastic, as usual.
he's been tipped for an oscar (:rolleyes:). kelly macdonald was superb as well.

i too lost my focus when tommy lee talked about that dream. hmmm. will def be watching again on dvd.
i also agree that it was totally absorbing and i never felt remotely bored.

'scary ethnic man?' wooo, he's spanish.

[abcdefz]

i too lost my focus when tommy lee talked about that dream. hmmm. will def be watching again on dvd.




I just finished reading Cities of the Plain, and the Cormac does the same fucking thing toward the end. Ten pages of these two dudes
rambling about a dream. At least in No Country it makes sense of a sort, though.

[abcdefz]

I decided to see the movie again this weekend.





SPOILERS




















...the whole aftermath definitely worked better the second time -- especially noticing that the last time we see Moss alive, the screen
fades to black -- and everything's fine until we get to the sheriff going to the wheelchair guy's house and they start ruminating. That,
pretty much back to back with the dream rumination... it just feels like the movie peters out more than becomes the elegy it's supposed
to be. Maybe that's the "old men" part of things -- the movie sort of retires more than ends, but it still seems like something
that works much better intellectually than it does emotionally.

I had forgotten some of the nifty pulling-buckshot-from-my-body scenes that Moss and Chigurh (sp?) have. Plus, I'd known Moss was
smart (to a point) and resourceful, but this time I connected it with him being a Vietnam vet, too. I wonder if that's a coincidence.

[dugmatics]

I found this to be a good explanation

"NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN is an ALLEGORY.

The title is from the first line of Sailing to Byzantium by William Butler Yeats, a poet classically trained and considered by many to be the greatest 20th Century poet.

Death is Anton Chigurh. His hair style (hood-ish, shroud-ish) and black clothing suggest Death. Death kills the innocent as well as the guilty and has his own set of rules. When the witness to the high-rise killing asks, “Are you going to kill me?” Death answers, “It depends. Do you see me?” When the kids on the bicycles help him after the car accident he tells them, “You didn’t see me.” If you see Death, you die; if not, you may live. Chigurh seems to come and go at will and seems to know where Moss is without trying very hard. His rules are his rules and they seem arbitrary and random. He is referred to by the sheriff as a “ghost” and he seems to be able to go wherever he pleases.

Death kills with a cattle stun gun, almost like a member of the clergy administering a cross to the forehead of a parishoner. Death is often portrayed as a hooded figure with a scythe; in this case he’s a “hooded” figure with a cattle stun gun.

Man is Llewellen Moss, part sinner, part saint. He is offered a deal with Death when Death offers to ignore his wife but take him. Instead, Llewellen challenges Death and chooses declines the offer. This is straight Faustian bargaining. By declining Death’s “This is the best deal you’re gonna get” Moss signs not only his own death warrant but his wife’s, too.

Llewellen challenges Death to a showdown and when his wife tells the sheriff, “He won’t quit, neither. Never has.” the audience expects a later showdown because we’ve been trained to see the protagonist take on the antagonist at the climax of a story — but before that can happen life’s randomness gets in the way and the Mexicans kill him. This is the major turn in the movie and the one that takes the sail out of the audience, which has been cheering for Man in his struggle against Death without realizing it.

Free Will is Carla Jean. She chooses at the end of the film not to allow Death to be random. She has a 50% chance of saving herself but chooses not to avail herself of the opportunity. She is the bravest of the lot, choosing to die by her own decision and not the randomness of Death.

The sheriff is the philosopher trying to understand the universe. He cannot and is defeated by Death in his attempt. At the movie’s end the Sheriff bemoans the fact that God never entered his life. One of God’s creatures, Death, was in the Sheriff’s life but he didn’t realize it (see “Scene with Sheriff” below). The story is the Sheriff’s, his quest to understand Life, and the dream he tells at the end of the movie explains that his own father, long dead, has gone before him into the darkness of death and awaits him.

Interesting parallel — Moss pays money for a coat as he crosses into Mexico; Chigurh pays the kids money for a shirt after his accident. What is meant by that? Cannot be a coincidence.

Chigurh walking away from the accident at the end shows that Death cannot be stopped. It will always walk the streets. It is a part of our existence forever.

Scene with the Sheriff and Death at the same hotel room at the same time but the Sheriff does not see Death. This scene is vital — it solidifies the allegory. The Sheriff enters the room but does not see Death and so he does not die. Death sees the sheriff but chooses not to kill him because he’s not seen in return. This scene is the “supernatural” scene which signals that we’ve watching an allegory, that what we’ve been watching is more than it appears."

Chigurh = Death. That explains practically the whole movie to me.(y)(y)

[Auton]

but he's not death. it's too easy to go "yeah whelp he goes around killin everybody so he must be some sort of symbol for death." lame. no. he's just a psychopath. why do people always have to go and try to ruin these kinds of things?

rated it 10/10, btw

[ms.peachy]

but he's not death. it's too easy to go "yeah whelp he goes around killin everybody so he must be some sort of symbol for death." lame. no. he's just a psychopath. why do people always have to go and try to ruin these kinds of things?


He's not 'just a psychopath', that's the whole point - if you believe that I have to say I think you are missing a huge chunk of the overall picture. He has an absolute moral code. It's not one you or I might subscribe to (thankfully), but his actions are within a very specific framework. Next time you see it, pay attention to his facial expressions, in particular in the scene with Carla Jean.

[abcdefz]

I think he symbolizes "evil" much more than "death."

"Destruction" might be a happy middle.

He's the antithesis of Marge Gunderson.

[afronaut]

Maybe he symbolized fate. I don't think it's as cut and dry as "oh he's a crazy murderer he must personify death or evil or something bad like that."

case in point: coin toss.

[abcdefz]

I dunno. I think that even the coin toss is to fuck with people.

I mean, even after the gas station owner wins, Anton manages to threaten the guy with his victory, you know?

Plus... if Tommy Lee is the actual antagonistic force against him... I don't think his sheriff is dispirited because of fate. It's the encroaching evil.
At the beginning of the movie, his voice over is about how it was a point of pride to be a sheriff and not even have to carry a gun, etc.
That country is gone now.

[afronaut]

Well then I guess he's just a personification of the madness the future brings. For such a good film, thats quite a cliche theme for a story written by an old guy. Still good though.

or maybe the encroaching evil and fate are one and the same.

[abcdefz]

I'm just kind of thinking it over; he might not hold up as a symbol after all. You make a good point about the coin toss; does evil ever show mercy?

Death playing chess on a beach...

[roosta]

Maybe Chiguhr doesn't stand for anything at all and is simple bat-shit crazy? That's one interpretation.

OK so maybe he stands for something, but I read him as an out and out mad-man.

[abcdefz]

He's got some medical knowledge.

[Auton]

if you believe that I have to say I think you are missing a huge chunk of the overall picture.

hmmmm. no, i don't believe so.

[abcdefz]

Notice how "Auton" and "Anton" are just a letter apart?

[abcdefz]

By the way -- if you stay after the credits start rolling for a little bit, music by Carter Burwell does finally come creeping in.

[Auton]

yeah, and really good stuff, too... i really did like the lack of music in the movie. made the unsettling and suspensful stuff even more so.

[abcdefz]

Plus, it gave the mariachi band more punch. :D

[Auton]

hahaha. loved that bit.

[abcdefz]

*weakly holds out bloodied $100 bill*

[abcdefz]

No Country for Old Spice

[ms.peachy]

I'm just kind of thinking it over; he might not hold up as a symbol after all. You make a good point about the coin toss; does evil ever show mercy?

Death playing chess on a beach...

The 'death' metaphor works perfectly fine for me with the coin toss. Death can be rather random, and turn on minor choices a person makes. It's all a bit Bridge of San Luis Rey. When Carla Jean "refuses to call it", Chigurgh is stunned that in the face of death, she would not choose to influence the result and says "But the coin got here the same way as I did!" That works fine for me in the allegory.

[abcdefz]

That's a thought.

"This coin traveled for twenty-three years to get here..."

[afronaut]

That's a thought.

"This coin traveled for twenty-three years to get here..."

That sounds like pre-destination to me. Score for Team Fate!

[saz]

chiguhr was a sociopath, he had no conscious and regard for human life.

[ms.peachy]

chiguhr was a sociopath, he had no conscious and regard for human life.
Then why didn't he kill the witness, the station clerk, the trailer park lady...?

[roosta]

Then why didn't he kill the witness, the station clerk, the trailer park lady...?

Do sociopaths kill everything they come across? No!

[saz]

well, the station clerk won the coin toss. which witness, the kids at the end of the movie? if so, his arm was messed up, and he was in rough shape. as far as killing the trailer park lady, that would've been stupid. he wasn't a serial killer, but rather a sociopathic hit man.

[ms.peachy]

Do sociopaths kill everything they come across? No!

They generally kill people who can ID them, though.

[roosta]

But they're crazy, they don't think straight...

[saz]

They generally kill people who can ID them, though.

all the kids could id him for was walking away from an accident, and it was his car that was hit. and the woman at the trailer park could only id him for walking into the office, asking a few questions, acting creepy, and then leaving. besides, chiguhr killed everyone who could've identified him, ie carson wells, llewelyn, his girlfriend carla, the two guys who hired him et al.

[abcdefz]

If he just went on a low-starch diet, I think he'd probably be okay.

[BBboy20]

DVD and Blu-Ray comes out tomorrow.

[ericlee]

just saw it last night so alot of my thoughts are already explained.

Still trying to grasp the ending. It's possible that I didnt want it to end so quickly like that. I was expecting the sherriff to meet up with Chugir (sp) and finally see each other face to face.

I also would have liked to see how death handled the chicken truck guy and the wife. Im not a big fan of using my iminagation for knowing the methods of how they were killed.

I'm also willing to think that Chugir was also a nam vet cause he's bery profecient in his manners and how he knew exactly how to administer first aid to himself.

Yeah, I'd say he was a mad hitman rather than death. The only part that describes him as being death is when he saw the sherrif in the room and let him live.

Ill definitly watch it again.

[The Notorious LOL]

Anton tends to avoid situations where his own personal safety is compromised.

For example:

The trailer park lady...she gives him lip but you hear a toilet flush in the background indicating someone else is in the office. He cant size up who that is, so why bother?

When Moss is shooting at him in the street, he runs away. It doesnt make sense to sit there and get into a gun battle where he may get killed.

He knows Moss is at the hospital, yet he never goes there. All visiting him would do is result in him getting arrested or shot in the process.

The sherriff approaches the hotel room and he is in it, yet he doesnt shoot him. He cant look him in the eye and see that he is defenseless.

Basically every scene in that where he kills someone he always clearly has the upper hand. The only exception to this is where he kills the mexicans in the hotel room.

[abcdefz]

Nice observation. (y)

Though at first I read this as "Auton" and couldn't figure out what that had to do with anything. :D

[abcdefz]

This is interesting.

Jeremy over at CHUD (http://chud.com/articles/articles/13968/1/DVD-REVIEW-NO-COUNTRY-FOR-OLD-MEN-JEREMY039S-TAKE/Page1.html):

Chigurh is a curiously vulnerable angel of death; he is apprehended, evaded, surprised, shot and, in the end, left to the mercy of children
after a jarring car wreck (the film's one capitulation to cinematic cliche). But he does abide. Those who lay eyes on him, however,
generally do not. And there is no playing chess with Chigurh (not even Twister or Battleship!); he'll give you the courtesy of a coin flip,
but even a correct call is no guarantee that you're escaping the encounter with your life.

[cookiepuss]

Well, I saw it.

Man -- for about the first 3/4 of the movie, it's pretty much perfect. I was amazed how beautifully directed this thing is. Just amazing. And the
acting -- hell, they even manage to make Woody Harrelson look good.

Then, about 3/4 the way in, it takes this narrative turn which -- I understand it, and it makes sense intellectually, and it's not as if the tone
has changed exactly -- but, emotionally, it's pretty unsatisfying. From what I understand, it's straight out of the book, but I'm willing to bet
it works much better as literature than it did as a movie.

It's still a pretty terrific movie, but... the way it deflates left me kind of depressed. I know that sort of elegiac, regretful, resigned sort of
thing is exactly what it's probably aiming for, but I was unsatisfied.

It's interesting, because if Fargo was, in part, about the inevitable progress of "good" as a force in this world, this one is kind of like
the inevitable march of evil.

8.5/10.


I pretty much felt the same way. I was expecting more resolution and it ended a bit abruptly. but otherwise i was really into it. I think I will need to see it again...

I also was starting to fall asleep at the end and I think I missed something and I became confused. Who ended up with the money?????

[BBboy20]

I also was starting to fall asleep at the end and I think I missed something and I became confused. Who ended up with the money?????Chigurh ; he handed the boys a 100 dollar bill and why else would he leave his dime behind that he uses to unscrew air ducts?

[Bob]

i got it through netflix the other day. damn. i've never been made so genuinely uncomfortable by a villain before. he was introduced so perfectly that every time he subsequently came on screen i couldn't help but cringe and think "jesus christ, what is he about to do?"

and sometimes he did what i thought he was going to do and sometimes he didn't. add me to the list of people not understanding the significance of tommy lee jones' story at the end, but as far as the movie in general goes, damn. just, damn