Jiffest 2007: No Country for Old Men (2007)

The name Coen brothers might not be familiar to most. But, as it turns out, and was generally agreed, expecting normalcy in Coen brothers work was pointless. Nobody (that i know of) could mix thriller, drama, and quirky humor the way they did. I was introduced to them through Fargo, and quickly wound up my way obtaining their other works (so far, Barton Fink, Blood Simple, Miller's Crossing, Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers, and my personal favorite, The Big Lebowski). No Country for Old Men put the Coens back on their track (after the relatively pop-ish, big-star studded flicks of The Ladykillers and Intolerable Cruelty). It has zero box-office potential, but you'd certainly need to question yourself about your film taste if you can't sense any brilliance in it.
He's got a bad weird hairdo. But really, you don't want to get on his bad side. As one of the character said about him, "You met him? And you still alive, that's something". Javier Bardem is Anton Chigurh, and he is one hell of a bastard. He never hesitated to kill, he had his principles, weird and twisted as they are, these principles of his were never violated, he never said a word out of necessity, he's got a very lethal weapon of choice, a high-pressure gun, he's seemingly inperceptible to pain and those eyes and small smile framed in forementioned weird hairdo cut could easily gave a sensation of uneasiness to those who watch. And clearly, the full-house theater had this common appreciation that every time - every frickin' single time - he appears on screen, you could hear people gasping and say 'ooohhh..'. He's the star of this violent drama about three characters that involved in an Mexican drug deal went wrong. Llewelyn Moss (a highly memorable Josh Brolin) an ex-welder, a Vietnam veteran (by veteran i means he's been there. He was a guy of mid-thirties in the film) went hunting, and he stumbled upon a drug deal went wrong. He leaves the drug behind and took a suitcase full of money. The owner of the money, Chigurh, of course, wants it back. And a local sheriff (venerable Tommy Lee Jones) drawn into the drama because the deal has been done in his territory and Chigurh had killed practically everyone he met in his territory.

The film won't be my most favorite Coen brothers work, at least yet, (the honor would still goes to The Big Lebowski), but it was certainly their better effort for the last several years (compared to Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers, that doesn't say much, actually). Moreover, this film also added itself to my shortlist of the best film of 2007. Did i say that this year has been a very good year for film? Well, I believe i did.

The Coens (i believe it was Ethan who is invovled more in the writing area) were a great storyteller. The way they introduces one after another character without really over-describes each of them, interweaving with the storylines, provides us with some sort of involvement and teasing to the game these characters playing. Take Chigurh for instance. Who is he? Who is he, really? We saw him caught on the road by a deputy, and before we even get his name or his purpose in the fiasco, he killed two men already. One with a choke, and the other via his wicked-weird weapon of choice. Or, our alleged protagonist, Moss. We learnt about his past only in a fragment of conversations with strangers. Both were introduced in a similar but entirely different manner. Chigurh easily killed a man with a single stroke, but Moss couldn't even killed a deer. From here we could see the difference between the two. And it should've been no doubt who'd you put your money on should they engaged in a combat. In a way, most of the characters in this film, including Tommy Lee Jones' had their own shares of past, and each would only shared their past with us, the audience, not unlike that of a bar-conversation over the half-empty glass of beer with a total stranger.

The film was quiet, almost no soundtrack playing, and the characters really doesn't have much to say to anything. But the unmistakable tension was there. However, as usual, the way Coen brothers choose to conclude the film might be a turn-off for some. For me, after the initial head-scratching and "what the f*?" moment, i was smiling whole-heartedly and again applauded the brothers for their geniuses. Nobody would've done the film in a way they did with the No Country for Old Men. And like it or not, it's brilliant.