No Country for Old Men is the darkest, most violent Coen Bros film since Blood Simple, and it surpasses the earlier film on both counts by a fair piece. I saw it last Wednesday night and have mulled it over a great deal since. The script sticks remarkably well to the book, and what changes were made were mostly sensible given the time constraints of a Hollywood film. The cast are all bar none excellent in their roles. There are moments of great beauty and delicious suspense.
And yet I was curiously dis-satisfied after. Perhaps reading the book literally the day before was a mistake? Maybe I should wait a while and see it again before passing judgment, but I'm not sure at this point that I care to see it again*. Is No Country for Old Men a new Deliverance? A corn-pone Goodfellas? I'm conflicted. There's a bit of monologue spoken at one of his victims by Anton Chigurh in the book, and a key confession by the Sheriff that were expunged from the script. I think they need re-insertion for the film to work a bit better.
Or--don't read the danged novel and enjoy the ride.
*I would, however, care to see Blood Simple again.
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god. Blood Simple is such an incredibly good movie. I wish more people have seen it. remember when Frances McDormand, when receiving her Oscar (what movie was that for again?), thanked her brother-in-law for making her an actor and her husband for making her a woman? i always think of her and M. Emmett Ward when i think of that speech, even though i know she won it for Fargo.
ReplyDeletein other news, i failed my motorcycle license test. by one point. because i rolled over the white f***ing line at the last stop sign. doesn't matter, i couldn't make the hard a** left U-turn that they make you do and lost points there.
oh well. have to wait a week and try again!
need to see No Country. you're the third person who's opinion i respect to recommend it.
I'm sorry about your license. What a drag! I hope it's not -20 and blustery when you re-try.
ReplyDeleteBlood Simple is my favorite Coen Bros by far. It's a serious, bleak film but also manages to blend humor into the suspense. No Country for Old Men is also funny at times, and I appreciate that the Coens recognize that Cormac McCarthy can be quite funny, despite the alarming number of slayings in his books.
I haven't seen Blood Simple, but would like to check it out. And I agree with your assessment of NCfOM, it had me for a while, it bated me and I really was getting into it.... And what did I get for being sucked in? a big fat nothing. In the end I was completely unsatisfied...and then the longer I thought about it, the more it seemed to be trying so hard for something that just didn't happen. Eh.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see it, but we keep forgetting to make time. I haven't read the book, so I'll not have the benefit of comparison.
ReplyDeleteI do miss the days when the Bros' wrote their own material from scratch. They had some crackin' dilalogue.