A Masterful Exercise in Tension

Rating: Null/10 (23 November 2007)

I just saw "No Country for Old Men", on its opening night at my local art-house theater, in a packed audience. I'm still trying to find words to describe it. Yes, the film is THAT good, everything you've heard about it is true (I was afraid I was going to be disappointed, which often happens when you go see a film that's been almost universally acclaimed). I'm not sure this is the Coen Brothers' masterpiece (only future viewings will tell me that), but it stands with "The Man Who Wasn't There" and "Fargo" as my favourite piece from Joel & Ethan.
This is one of the scariest films I've ever seen, and I'm not easily scared. I mean, I'm not scared by over the top, teen serial killer flicks; believable characters and palpable situations are what really give me the chills (hence "Dogville" and "Heavenly Creatures" being some of the scariest films I've seen). "No Country for Old Men" could be a male variation of Hitchcock's classic "Psycho": substitute the naive young secretary, Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) for a fearless hunter (Josh Brolin, never better), and the introspective motel owner Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), for a brutal killing machine (Javier Bardem), and give it an "A Simple Plan" (an underrated gem directed by Sam Raimi in 1998) web of 'hickey' characters, and you've got a devastating tale of moral values, choices - and the price we pay for them. Describing this film in details would spoil the experience (the ending is love-it or hate-it as no other I've seen in a long time, and it'll be an infinite topic for discussion). Javier Bardem's Anton Chigurh might be the scariest villain I've ever seen, and I dare to say, it will (or at least should) be ranked alongside other classic names such as the cited Norman Bates, Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins in "The Silence of the Lambs") and Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates in "Misery"). You could hear the entire audience's breathing every time he was on screen. An old lady who was sitting beside me literally jumped a couple of times. This powerful role and incredible performance should give Bardem his much deserved Oscar next year (he also should've won for "Before Night Falls" 7 years ago). But everybody in the cast (Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, Kelly Macdonald and Woody Harrelson) is top-notch, and it would be unfair to give credit only to Bardem. After two disappointing features ("Intolerable Cruelty" and "The Ladykillers", easily the worst of their career), the Coens directed an amusing segment for "Paris, Je t'Aime" last year, and had a terrific comeback with this instant classic "No Country for Old Men". Welcome back to form, Joel & Ethan! 23 years after "Blood Simple", you still got the power to amaze us. 10/10.