No Country for Old Men (2007)

Rating: 8/10 (22 May 2017)

"No Country for Old Men" was a turn in the Coens' filmography that they hadn't went down since "Fargo", a (relatively) serious crime drama.
The Coen brothers have a long-standing reputation for their off beat, sometimes hilarious dialogue and characters, as well as crafting intricate plots that fall into the rear view as the story and all of its zaniness progresses, i.e. "The Big Lebowski". However, "No Country for Old Men" is quite a reach different than the rest of their discography. A western, set in 1980 and based on a Cormac McCarthy novel, that follows Josh Brolin's character Llewelyn after he happens upon a not-yet-discovered crime scene and a case full of unclaimed money. Once the money's proprietor finds this out, Llewelyn is tailed voraciously by Javier Bardem's Anton Chigurh, this plot line is what comprises the majority of the film, in company with Tommy Lee Jones' seemingly slow moving pursuit into the events.
In Chigurh's first moments, we see him escape arrest and commit murder - both in perhaps the coldest ways possible. From this point on, he is on a manhunt without a lot of the urgency. Chigurh follows leads, plans his following actions, even takes steps without making a single sound or uttering a single word. He isn't accompanied with any music, he isn't given any background, and we don't see him answer to anyone. Chigurh almost seems like a man out of a different world, someone just here visiting to do a job, he doesn't look to be held down by earthly restrictions, and it is abundantly clear that no matter where Llewelyn (or anyone else) goes, he is never safe from him. These characteristics are bound together wonderfully and effortlessly by Javier Bardem.
Thankfully enough, Bardem is balanced out by a great protagonist performance by Josh Brolin (one of his best) and the character who acts more as a storyteller and backdrop for the world these characters live in than actual engaged plot-driven character, Tommy Lee Jones. Jones, by far, gets the smallest screen time of the three leads but his moments, his words, are some of the most memorable in the entire film. In his performance we believe we are listening to tales told by a man who has been lucky enough to tell them.
"No Country for Old Men" is a quiet film, a slow film. It doesn't say too much, try too hard, or hit anyone over the head with anything they don't need. "No Country" begs you to feel the created atmosphere, the pauses given by the characters after they're done speaking or while they're listening to perhaps their last moments. There's no soundtrack playing us through scenes, there's no spike in the music when there would be in any other movie, there's just silence. Shots of the surroundings, and there aren't too many, shown by the great Roger Deakins who delivers award caliber work once again by showing western emptiness and making it look beautiful, and our characters and the words that they speak. "No Country" is a better movie if you read it between the lines. Much of the dialogue shouldn't be taken on face value, Chigurh makes this obvious by deconstructing everything that anyone ever gets to say to him. The Coen brothers crafted a screenplay that was smart enough, small enough, to let us infer messages just as the characters do instead of filling minutes with exposition, as it would hurt this story to do. While there are oft moments of humor sprinkled throughout and used sparingly, the tone is held consistently and paced brilliantly by the Coens in their lone western.
"No Country for Old Men" is a unique film, with the Coens that comes to be expected, but it's not their usual brand of unique that they find a way to craft time and again with the zany characters and laughable situations. "No Country" breaks rules, it tells us a story and acts as if it were inconsequential, as if it were another of Jones' characters' tales. It grips us in a pursuit and takes us down with a ear to the ground to listen, and in that, it's a success, but that's not really what "No Country" is about.
While watching Llewelyn and Chigurh scheme and plot their way around the empty Texan landscape in various hotels and deserted roads accounted for some of the most suspenseful cinema since, perhaps, Hitchcock, "No Country" is a bit deeper than a normal cat and mouse movie (like "Heat"). It's unpredictable, it's subdued, and it's just telling you a story, albeit a bitter one and grounded one - with some Coen brothers touches of humor and superb pacing, acting, editing, and storytelling along the way.