The Coen Bros. have always had this amazing gift for subtle humor in their more serious fare (Fargo, The Man Who Wasn’t There). No matter how grim the subject matter was they always gave you something to laugh at, no matter how small or insignificant it was. Such is not the case with their newest film. In fact, this is probably their most humorless effort. It makes Miller’s Crossing feel like The Big Lebowski. No Country for Old Men is the most brutal cinematic experience of the year, as well as one the best. It’s nothing shy of an unforgettable masterpiece.
The mayhem begins when a hunter (Josh Brolin) follows a blood trail in the middle of the desert to a clearing full of dead bodies. An obvious gun battle took place and he soon discovers a large supply of heroin in the back of one of the victim’s pick-up truck. He quickly leaves the scene, following another trail of blood and footprints, where he stumbles on a large sum of cash next to another dead body.
Who can resist not taking a satchel full of money when it seems obvious that the only people who knew about it in the first place are all dead?
What he doesn’t know is the money is wired with a computerized tracking device and that a crazed lunatic named Anton (Javier Bardem in one of the scariest character roles ever) will stop at nothing to get it back. Anton is ruthless killer, a guy who’d kill you just for breathing too loudly. He leaves a trail of bodies all throughout the landscape. Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) follows the trail with puzzlement and difficulty. He informs us that he’s been sheriff of this county since he was 25 years old, and now, as an old man on the verge of retirement, is now trying to solve the most brutal crimes he’s come across.
No Country for Old Men includes some amazing camera work that is as bleak as the narrative itself. Nothing about the desert shots are painted with a color not present. It’s a dry and desolate land given the perfect amount awareness to give it an enveloping feel.
“There will be no clean getaways” is the film’s tagline and one couldn’t be anymore apt. It even applies to the viewer because there is no walking away from this film without being affected by it. This is a story that examines the most negative aspects of life. Not every case gets solved like the hundreds, if not thousands, of other Hollywood films (and television shows) have shown us. Not every investigation is as clean as we’re used to. The brothers Coen adapt Cormac McCarthy’s original novel faithfully, leaving out glory and glamour for misery and heartbreak.
