No Country for Old Men (2007)

Directors:

Ethan Coen
Joel Coen

Writers (WGA):

Joel Coen (screenplay) &
Ethan Coen (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

21 November 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

There Are No Clean Getaways

Plot:

Violence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon some dead bodies, a stash of heroin and more than $2 million in cash near the Rio Grande.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Graphic Violence | Leg Wound | Trailer Home | Mariachi Band

Awards:

Won 4 Oscars. Another 87 wins & 36 nominations

Cast

Tommy Lee Jones	...	Sheriff Ed Tom Bell
Javier Bardem	...	Anton Chigurh
Josh Brolin	...	Llewelyn Moss
Woody Harrelson	...	Carson Wells
Kelly Macdonald	...	Carla Jean Moss
Garret Dillahunt	...	Deputy Wendell
Tess Harper	...	Loretta Bell
Barry Corbin	...	Ellis
Stephen Root	...	Man who hires Wells
Rodger Boyce	...	Sheriff Roscoe Giddens
Beth Grant	...	Carla Jean's Mother
Ana Reeder	...	Poolside Woman
Kit Gwin	...	Sheriff Bell's Secretary
Zach Hopkins	...	Strangled Deputy
Chip Love	...	Man in Ford

MPAA:

Rated R for strong graphic violence and some language.

Runtime:

122 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Japan:R-15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Spain:18 | Argentina:16 | Italy:VM14 | Singapore:NC-16 | Malaysia:18PL | Finland:K-15 | Australia:MA | USA:R (certificate #43473) | Israel:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Ireland:15A | Canada:18A (Alberta) | Austria:16 | Portugal:M/18 | France:-12 | Taiwan:R-18 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | Sweden:15 | Brazil:16 | Netherlands:16 | Denmark:15 | South Africa:16 (16V) | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Germany:16 | South Korea:18 | Iceland:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Canada:13+ (Québec) | Norway:15 | Canada:14A (British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Company:

Paramount Vantage

Trivia:

The credited editor for this film, Roderick Jaynes, is a pseudonym for Joel and Ethan Coen, who have co-edited all of their movies since Blood Simple. (1984) (in addition to co-directing and co-writing them). New York magazine reported that they devised the pseudonym when Guild membership rules would not allow two co-credited editors on the same film. Despite his non-existence, Jaynes was nominated for an Oscar for editing No Country for Old Men (2007) (as well as Fargo (1996)), but he has never won one. Joel Coen told New York magazine that if Jaynes had won the Oscar, the award presenter and not the Coens would have been the one authorized by the Academy to accept the award on "his" behalf. Joel Coen explained that the Academy doesn't "allow proxies to accept awards at the Academy Awards, ever since Marlon Brando and Sacheen Littlefeather."

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: During the shot of Sheriff Bell's reflection on the TV in Llewelyn's home, you can see at the far right corner of the television the reflection of three crew members.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Ed Tom Bell: I was sheriff of this county when I was twenty-five years old. Hard to believe. My grandfather was a lawman; father too. Me and him was sheriff's at the same time; him up in Plano and me out here. I think he's pretty proud of that. I know I was. Some of the old time sheriffs never even wore a gun...

Movie Connections:

References Tôkyô monogatari (1953)

Soundtrack:

Puño de tierra

No country for young men, either

At various moments in "No Country for Old Men," we are shown rusty, weather-beaten windmills squeaking in the dry desolation of the American Southwest, doing their 360-degree revelations in the passing wind. This imagery ties in nicely with the elliptical nature of the characters and plot (based on a novel by Cormac McCarthy), but also shows Joel and Ethan Coen coming full circle within their own career, as this film plays like a "desert noir" companion to their debut feature, "Blood Simple" (1985).

The brothers' requisite plot device–a large sum of money being stolen and sought after–finds an Everyman foil in Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), who happens upon a massacre site where a drug deal went awry, and makes off with a satchel of cash pried from a dead man's hands. His wife, Carla Jean (Kelly Macdonald) is skeptical, and it is not until Llewelyn commits an act of charity that he finds himself in a relentless chase to outrun the innumerable factions seeking the cash. As in McCarthy's novel, these factions are vaguely defined at best, save for Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), a seemingly indestructible boogeyman who possesses no loyalty, and only the faintest trace of humanity (some of his potential victims are absolved by the luck of a coin toss). Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (one of the "old men" of the title, played with depth and grace by Tommy Lee Jones) is the outsider intermediary, whose own jaded feelings toward the inexplicable senselessness of crime in America is magnified in the increasingly nihilistic pursuit between Chigurh and Moss.

"No Country" is like a symphony of aesthetics, with the Coens showing an affinity for wide-angle photography (captured by DP Roger Deakins) of the vast American Southwest; close-ups of faces of a variety of ages, weathered by age or fatigue or shrapnel; sound-effects editing so razor-precise that the squeaking of an oxygen valve or the clicking of a safety-catch in an otherwise silent scene is enough to inspire chills. Also worth noting is the absence of musical score, with Carter Burwell's orchestrations swelling only a few moments after the end credits have started to roll.

I find it refreshing that, in our era of cinematic spectacle, replete with CGI-candy, that "No Country" derives much of its impact from the characters themselves, often filmed in the aforementioned close-ups that makes their dialogues resonate with a profound–almost meditative–urgency, conveyed wonderfully in the subtly understated performances. This is an interesting adaptive choice on the Coens' part, since many of their films take a parodic approach toward "country folk" as witless yokels designed as vessels for comedy. And while "No Country" finds some clever comic asides (Moss's exchange with a testy American border guard is a gem), the tone is that of pervasively ominous uncertainty–the tags of "hero" and "villain" are not easily applied, and the Coens are not above showing the moral ambiguity of their characters with a flatly objective eye.

And the performances are indicative of this flat objectivity. Talented character actor Josh Brolin ("The Goonies"; "Grindhouse") embodies the quirks, flaws, and traits (both heroic and anti-heroic) of Llewelyn; Bardem is a towering iceberg of intimidation, whose Chigurh becomes an almost-infallible extension of some mythic desert dweller (existing solely in a world of self-obligation and passive violence); Jones brings a worldly wisdom and depth to Ed Tom, the glue that bonds the narrative; English actress Macdonald (probably best known for "Trainspotting") slips into a Southern accent and conveys the necessary fear–and finally, acceptance–of being an unwitting pawn in a situation beyond her control.

In the end, there is a paradoxical thematic synthesis as two characters "walk away" from obligation and into a future that is, at best, uncertain (the characters "unite" in a slow fade); and while Bell's closing recollection of a dream veers into Oscar-nod territory, it perfectly resolves "No Country for Old Men," a story so open-ended and incendiary that its grislier moments could easily be culled from today's national headlines. The movie may be set in 1980, but its parable-like presentation will prove timeless. One of 2007's best.