Frustrating

Rating: 7/10 (28 June 2009)

I don't care for the Coens. While they are undoubtedly exceedingly talented, they have a propensity for making films to please themselves on a level which the viewer doesn't always share - this viewer, at any rate.
No Country For Old Men is so nearly mainstream that I very much enjoyed it until the end, when it left me feeling frustrated. I'm a great believer in stories having satisfactory resolutions (as opposed to happy endings), and No Country has no resolution whatsoever: worse, it actually goes to some trouble to set up a non-resolution.
I don't know whether the lack of a resolution is a feature of Cormack McCarthy's original book or whether it is the work of director/adaptors the Coens, although I strongly suspect the latter. Whoever is responsible, it spoiled the movie for me fairly comprehensively. Understand - I have no problem with an ending where the villain gets away with it, but I do like to have a resolution.
And it's such a pity. The script is excellent, the performances are excellent, the look of the film is excellent, the direction is very good (it is a little slow), but there's no darn resolution!