I don't understand why they did it.

Rating: 7/10 (9 November 2007)

I'm a Coen Brother's fan and I went in with very high hopes. What with the people that matter calling this their best offering in years, some going so far as to call it their best ever. That's reason enough for me to shell out the $11.50. Something I do less and less these days. Do I think I got my money's worth? Yes and no. For the first hour and change I was treated to a first rate thriller with grand, Sam Shepard's America type themes, a lot like Blood Simple actually. And I, the eager film goer, became immersed, developed a fondness and then considerable concern for the guy I took to be the protagonist. Then with less that a half hour to go, they did the darndest thing. They dipped out of my hero's story, at the climax of all places..in an edit that looked and felt like a bad projectionist had just changed reels. It was, as I've read here and elsewhere, a move in keeping with the style of the novel. The choice to tell the story in this way was apparently one of those form equals theme moves like Beckett's Waiting For Godot. I spent the better part of an hour chewing it over with my girlfriend. We're not the sharpest knives in the drawer for sure, so maybe a second viewing will give me something more to hold on to.