Gritty edge-of-seat from start to finish

Rating: 8/10 (7 November 2015)

"No Country for Old Men" is the Coen Bros' adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel from almost 10 years ago. This film won 4 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and while I have doubts to say this is my favorite film of the year and not "There Will Be Blood", there is no denying that "No Country for Old Men" is among the finest the year 2007 had to offer. The movie runs for slightly over 2 hours, with credits, and takes us into the world of Llewelyn Moss who finds a huge amount of money. For almost the entire movie, he is on the run from contract killer Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem, Oscar winner) with Tommy Lee Jones playing Ed Tom Bell, a sheriff who, on the other hand, is trying to help Moss and catch Chigurh. Woody Harrelson and Kelly McDonald play important characters too.
It has always been the Coens' strength to include characters in their movies who may be minor, but are still very memorable. Their recent movie "Inside Llewyn Davis", my favorite from the brothers, is a great example of that, but this film here is as well. Garret Dilahunt playing a sheriff's assistant was as fun to watch as Kathy Lamkin's one-minute, one-scene character: "We can't give out no information." This scene actually gave out a nice piece of information on Chigurh. I don't think he let her live because there was somebody else when we hear the noise of somebody flushing the toilet. He is not scared of attracting attention in other scenes by killing several people in the same location. I think he was impressed by how much of a professional the woman was, even in the face of such a dangerous man like him, so she did not even have to go through his coin toss procedure. Actually, Chigurh and women is a chapter interesting enough to write a full article about on its own. For example, he offered Carla Jean the chance to live at the end, even if he promised Llewelyn otherwise. And then there is that "You married into it." scene of course.
In general, this film is packed with tense, brilliantly atmospheric material from start to finish, be it the dog chase scene, the scene when we see Chigurh turn out the lights in the hallway as he knew Moss would see him, the scene with Chigurh and Bell almost facing each other or the final monologue by Tommy Lee Jones' character. I have heard about interpretations Chigurh and Bell are actually the same person. There are some indicators that it may be true, especially the face-off I just mentioned, but who knows. In general, my personal perception is still that it is not the case. That's entirely subjective though. In any case, the Coen's created one of the most memorable villains in film history here (with the help of McCarthy, of course). The way they used Chigurh's coin as a depiction of luck and fate was simply brilliant and it's very telling that, while Chigurh was always in charge with human enemies following him (he killed most of these), he picked the wrong side of the coin in the end apparently when something completely unexpected happens. But this is what luck and fate is all about. You cannot influence it. Great last scene with Bardem's character for sure. I am truly curious what happens to him next. This scene also makes for a nice parallel with Moss' scene earlier when he pays a lot of money for the jacket (being the somewhat good guy) and Chigurh gets the shirt for free (being the bad guy). Life's not fair. Neither is this movie. But it's very outstanding and a great achievement of filmmaking. Highly recommended.