Let No Country for Old Men choose your friends.

Rating: 10/10 (7 February 2008)

I love this movie because I love arguments about movies. Being the elitist that I am, I have come to use this as my polarising stick when seeing what others' taste is like. If you don't find No Country for Old Men fascinating, I'll prescribe you some sedatives and send you to bed. If you do, you're allowed inside. I've found it hilarious to listen to people complain about how boring it was, how long-winded and stale it was. How they thought American Gangster was the best movie they've ever seen, and why No Country for Old Men should have been more like it.
I could both write and read essay upon review or even a PhD or two about this film given the time. I can't think of any other film I have seen that balances philosophy and plot so well without having a shade of pretentiousness about it. You can talk about the moral decay of America. The pervasive and relentless evil and how that is realised today in society or like Anton Chigurh, in people. You can talk about fate and destiny. What Anton's coin means for his victims. Whether fault lies in chaos, the flip of the coin. Or whether fault is in the person, Anton. You can grab any piece of history, religion or philosophy and see what this film has to say. It's fascinating. A film like this is one that you can't "look too far" into, because the way that it is crafted invites its viewers to do exactly so in as invasive fashion as its main antagonist. I think to come away satisfied and content you will need to.
Beware to all, though. This has also become a movie that people who think they are pro cinema have taken to be one of theirs. If someone professes their love for it, ask why. If they do nothing but outpour their love for the Coen brothers, they are your enemy. This is one movie that anyone can put some thought into and have a perspective on. If they don't, they're full of crap.
I read in a news article recently that this Australian film critic thought that 2007 was the beginning of another golden age in cinema. He talked about the 40s and the 70s. The relatively short time periods that consistently produce incredible films. While he did write like an essay by Kevin Smith about Magnolia, I am beginning to agree. 2007 had two American films that everyone is talking about. They're not films that we'll talk about, buy on DVD and forget about. Time will tell, but I am confident that this is a landmark in the nearing 100 odd year tradition of cinema,