The Old New West(ern)

Rating: 10/10 (14 November 2007)

Much has been made of the newest Coen Brother's installment. I sat down to watch the film with my new girlfriend. I really like her and she likes movies so that helps. No Country... was our second film together. I have long been a Coen Brother's fan and for one reason or another their films seem to speak to me on a level that most fodder does not. The richness with which they craft their characters and the unparalleled consistency stitched into the fiber of their story-lines have long been what I admire about them as filmmakers. In this film I see a clear distance from any particular genre which is not to say the film isn't a homage to the hard West or an unrelenting pursuit of inevitability.
It's hard for me to determine whether Lewelyn Moss is whom I would describe as a hero but I see sketches of a man who prefects a true and balanced affection for his wife and with skill and playful adoration, expresses as much as any man beset with obstacles that have made it difficult to provide a life that befits his character. Lewelyn is a man rife with conviction and a reassurance in the belief that if we all stick to our business and did right where we could, the slide toward the great devoid might not be as harsh. That was until he came upon a bloodbath of a scene while hunting across the flatlands of the Texas panhandle. It takes a true staunch personality to remain unaffected by all that death and an insight to continue beyond in hopes of finding the end of the line and possibly a new beginning for himself and the woman he loves and if not for his inability to resist the challenges presented by evolution of modern criminality set against his own bull-headed humanity, his inevitability might have been a life he deserved.
All else, including the emotionless, psychopathic, cattle gun wielding Anton Chigurh played brilliantly by Javier Bardem were the effect of one man who held steadfast to his own sense of humility (the single gesture to return to the scene of the massacre) and met his demise as a result; leaving nothing but questions and reflection behind to be examined by an iconic old West relic played stirringly by Tommy Lee Jones. The best film of the year...
Oscars!!!