No Country for Old Men Discussion Thread

This film looks to be a fine return to form for the Coen brothers. I know a lot of people didn't like Intolerable Cruelty or The Ladykillers (I happened to like them both). Roger Deakins' cinematography will easily get him an Oscar nom (if not the win). Javier Bardem looks to be scary as hell as well. I can't wait to see this once it's out in theaters...even though I doubt it will last very long there, sadly.
 
[quote name='JeffreyLebowski']This film looks to be a fine return to form for the Coen brothers. I know a lot of people didn't like Intolerable Cruelty or The Ladykillers (I happened to like them both). Roger Deakins' cinematography will easily get him an Oscar nom (if not the win). Javier Bardem looks to be scary as hell as well. I can't wait to see this once it's out in theaters...even though I doubt it will last very long there, sadly.[/QUOTE]
All sociopathic characters need an out-of-touch-with-reality sinister haircut.

And I, too, enjoyed Intolerable Cruelty and The Lady Killers.
 
[quote name='Brak']All sociopathic characters need an out-of-touch-with-reality sinister haircut.
[/quote]

It certainly seems to be a pre-requisite for movie psychos nowadays...
 
This looks fucking awesome. I saw the preview before Darjeeling Limited and immediately got interested. The only hangup I have is I'm already imagining the assassin killing people because they're not that interested in his poetry.
 
I recently read "Blood Meridian - or an Evening of Redness in the West" by Cormac McCarthy...the same author who wrote the book that is the basis for this movie.

That book is supposely one of the most violent American novels ever written. It doesn't look like this movie will shy away from the bloodshed either.
 
I haven't seen a Coen Brothers movie yet that I didn't like. I had no idea Intolerable Cruelty was a Coen Brothers movie, had I known that I might have given it a shot. The marketing for it seemed to indicate it was yet another romantic comedy.
 
It was great except for the last 20 minutes. I guess I just didn't like how it ended. Lots of people were bitching as we were walking out.
 
I saw this last night, and holy shit, it is incredible. I haven't been that engaged in a movie in such a long time. From the moment it started til the end, I wasn't bored once. That's impressive. It's probably the best movie I've seen this year.

Really, go watch it. Now.

[quote name='polly']It was great except for the last 20 minutes. I guess I just didn't like how it ended. Lots of people were bitching as we were walking out.[/quote]

Ok, that is a good point. Regardless, awesome, awesome movie.
 
Movie of the year, unless there's some kind of surprise hit.

I liked the ending. It was a bit off, I agree, but it wasn't bad; it was just different.

Everyone needs to go see this.
 
saw this move couple weeks ago, fantastic, a couple soliloquies that felt a little too long, and one part felt like it was unnecessarily cut out, but one of the best of the year besides it.
 
Good movie. I find myself analyzing the film much as "Blood Meridian". Both the movie and "Blood Meridian" had ambiguous endings

Here are a couple of points- Maybe I'm thinking too much about the film:
I noticed how there are some parallels between both the killer and the Llewellyn Moss character

1. Moss was killing deer earlier in the film and Anton Chigurh (the killer) was killing humans almost like they were deer.

2. Both were injuried at one point and bought a shirt off some stranger.

3. Both healed themselves after they were injured. Moss was pulling metal out of his shoulder and Chigurh went to the pharmacy to get medical supplies.


Here is another thing I analyzed. Chigurh seemed to share some theme with money. He would flip a coin for his victims. He would use coins to open up the grate. And there is the obvious one of he being in pursuit of the satchel of money.
 
saw this last night. completely blown away, one of the most incredible movies i have ever seen. the realistic violence and terrifying antagonist make this one to remember for the ages.

i loved the ending btw.
 
saw it earlier tonight and DAMN.... I MEAN DAMN that was awsome. and from a cinematic point it was awesome. quick notes:

1. the no music/scoring through the entire film was done to a fucking T it was perfect.
2. the phone call scene from the hospital to the hotel was some really good back and forth
3. ended well, however i thought the logical end point wouldve been him walking out after killing moss' wife

just my points.
 
Brilliant ending; Beauty in bleakness.

I'll post more thoughts later.
 
I finally saw this film over the weekend...absolutely fantastic! As everyone seems to agree on, the whole movie was very well done. The pacing was great, the action/chase scenes were intense, acting was spot on, humor was subtle (and hilariously dark!) etc. etc. At first, I felt a little unfulfilled with the ending, but after some open analysis with my girlfriend afterwards, I grew to like it a whole lot more. "Beauty in bleakness" is a great way to put it. Not a whole lot of closure, per se, but that's often the way life is.
 
[quote name='JeffreyLebowski']I finally saw this film over the weekend...absolutely fantastic! As everyone seems to agree on, the whole movie was very well done. The pacing was great, the action/chase scenes were intense, acting was spot on, humor was subtle (and hilariously dark!) etc. etc. At first, I felt a little unfulfilled with the ending, but after some open analysis with my girlfriend afterwards, I grew to like it a whole lot more. "Beauty in bleakness" is a great way to put it. Not a whole lot of closure, per se, but that's often the way life is.[/QUOTE]

Exactly. I actually just saw it for the second time last night, and the ending makes even more sense on a repeat viewing. In fact, I'd say the ending is exactly the point of the movie, if the movie can even be said to have a "point."
 
some points on the ending:

I knew the movie was over when Anton got hit by the car and you saw his broken arm. that's not something that will heal up quickly, and the other point is there's nothing left for him to do. no reason to kill the cop or anyone else. after killing llewleyn's wife everything was squared away. the car crash was the only deus ex machina moment for me but it still felt plausible. the car crash was also one of the most startling moments in a movie i've seen, no warning whatsoever :hot:

and when tommy lee jones starts his monologue i knew it was ending on that note, kind of an abstract non-ending. life goes on, the killer gets away, and people died. you could call it a bleak ending but to me it was simply realistic.

some things that confused me:

Why did Moss go back to the desert? to me the only explanation was to kill the man who was asking for water for if he survived he knew Moss's face. if the intention of the film-makers and of the author is that he went back to give water to the guy... that is just fucking ridiculous and the movie definitely loses some realism points in my book. you can explain it away that Moss felt bad for the guy (and he's really dumb), but WTF who would go back in that situation anyways? like water is going to heal the dude's GUNSHOT WOUNDS :roll:

when the cop(tommyleejones) goes to the motel near teh end, anton seems to be hiding there. the cop sees teh grate with the screws and then leaves. this was the same motel where moss hid the case in the vent correct? was anton really there? or was that just imagination of the cop? and when the cop saw the grate did he realize the money was gone?

and who got the money in the end? was it the mexicans that killed Moss at the motel? or did Anton get the money?

as a whole this movie was shockingly good. i was in awe for the whole thing. at my theater also people were bitching as they left... but they probably weren't expecting THAT :lol:
 
[quote name='tehweezner']

was anton really there? or was that just imagination of the cop? and when the cop saw the grate did he realize the money was gone?

and who got the money in the end? was it the mexicans that killed Moss at the motel? or did Anton get the money?

as a whole this movie was shockingly good. i was in awe for the whole thing. at my theater also people were bitching as they left... but they probably weren't expecting THAT :lol:[/QUOTE]

Anton was there and he did get the money, he knew where moss liked to hide it from experience in the other motel. I don't understand the water myself, having him go back to kill the agua guy seems like a more logical idea.
 
Going solely from the book,
Moss went back specifically to give him water. Guilty conscience won out, and in the end got him killed. Makes it more sad in a way, that in trying to do somewhat of the right thing, he gets his wife and himself killed.
 
My impression was that Anton would kill anything that lay in his path; this is what mortified me, so naturally I got upset that he didn't kill Kathy Lamkin.
 
I saw in Sat. night and my exprience was eerily similar to High Tension. I was absolutley loving it until the last half hour. Killed the rest of the movie for me.

However, it is a Coen flick so maybe a repeat viewing or two will change my mind.
 
Awesome f'in movie. Some people dont understand the ending. He spares the kids because he says that they never saw him because anyone that sees him is dead. Ending was perfect imho.
 
I just saw it last night and have a few questions. Was intolerable cruelty that movie with Sarah Michelle Gellar? if so I can't beleive it was a Coen bros movie, but OTOH I can because that flick rocked.

allright here is questions bout NCFOM:

1. Who ended up with the cash? Mexicans or Anton?

2. Anton killed the head hauncho in the skyscraper, and this is who hired everybody, so I assume that Anton or the Mexicans just kept the cash?

3. Do you think he killed Mrs. Moss (I think he did).

4. How funny was this line "I previsioned it!"

5. Hasn't this coin flipping thing been a little played out? See: Twoface from batman, and the head Secret Service guy from the Sentinel.
 
[quote name='klwillis45']I saw in Sat. night and my exprience was eerily similar to High Tension. I was absolutley loving it until the last half hour. Killed the rest of the movie for me.

However, it is a Coen flick so maybe a repeat viewing or two will change my mind.[/quote]


I say give it a couple days so it sinks in. I was really upset with how it ended while I was in the theater. 3 days later, it's one of the best films I've seen in years.
 
[quote name='pittpizza']I just saw it last night and have a few questions. Was intolerable cruelty that movie with Sarah Michelle Gellar? if so I can't beleive it was a Coen bros movie, but OTOH I can because that flick rocked.

allright here is questions bout NCFOM:

1. Who ended up with the cash? Mexicans or Anton?

2. Anton killed the head hauncho in the skyscraper, and this is who hired everybody, so I assume that Anton or the Mexicans just kept the cash?

3. Do you think he killed Mrs. Moss (I think he did).

4. How funny was this line "I previsioned it!"

5. Hasn't this coin flipping thing been a little played out? See: Twoface from batman, and the head Secret Service guy from the Sentinel.
 
Question number 3:

According to the book, he flat out kills her, as she lost the coin toss, but only after explaining reasons about it and all, and placing all blame on Moss. No ambiguity there.
 
I wouldn't use the book for answers, being that this is a film adaptation.
 
I don't usually have a problem with ambigious endings but for some reason I just didn't care for the end of this one. Hell, I loved the series finale of Sopranos and really felt like that episode helped solidify it as my favorite TV show of all time. Like I said though, I just don't like the way they did this one.
On the one hand they buck the hollywood trend and leave the movie with an open-ending but on the other hand they skipped out on the killing of the heroes. As people are indicating these deaths were handled in the novel but they left them out of the movie to save us or something?

There was a lot of really awesome cinematography and writing in this movie though. It had a very realistic feel to it. I mean the average guy hero worked really, really well in it. Let's talk about Anton as the villian, chilling, truly chilling. The last 30 minutes just really felt like a let down though. The buildup was spectacular but the finish just felt a little lackluster.
 
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