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'''''No Country for Old Men''''' is an [[Academy Awards|Oscar-winning]] [[2007 in film|2007]] [[crime (genre)| crime ]][[thriller (genre)| thriller film]] written and directed by [[Coen brothers|Joel and Ethan Coen]], starring [[Tommy Lee Jones]], [[Josh Brolin]], and [[Javier Bardem]]. [[Film adaptation|Adapted]] from the [[Cormac McCarthy]] [[No Country for Old Men|novel of the same name]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/gary_thompson/11139467.html|title=Creep in the heart of Texas|first=Gary|last=Thompson|date=[[November 9]] [[2007]]|publisher=[[Philadelphia Daily News]]|accessdate=2008-01-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20158940,00.html|title=No Country for Old Men|first=Lisa|last=Schwarzbaum|date=[[November 7]] [[2007]]|publisher=[[EW.com]]|accessdate=2008-01-04}}</ref> ''No Country for Old Men'' tells the story of a drug deal gone bad and the ensuing cat-and-mouse [[drama film|drama]], as three men crisscross each other's paths in the desert landscape of 1980 [[West Texas]]. The film examines the themes of fate and circumstance the Coen brothers have previously explored in ''[[Blood Simple]]'' and ''[[Fargo (film)|Fargo]]''.
'''''No Country for Old Men''''' is a [[2007 in film|2007]] [[crime (genre)| crime ]][[thriller (genre)| thriller film]] written and directed by [[Coen brothers|Joel and Ethan Coen]], starring [[Tommy Lee Jones]], [[Josh Brolin]], and [[Javier Bardem]]. [[Film adaptation|Adapted]] from the [[Cormac McCarthy]] [[No Country for Old Men|novel of the same name]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/gary_thompson/11139467.html|title=Creep in the heart of Texas|first=Gary|last=Thompson|date=[[November 9]] [[2007]]|publisher=[[Philadelphia Daily News]]|accessdate=2008-01-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20158940,00.html|title=No Country for Old Men|first=Lisa|last=Schwarzbaum|date=[[November 7]] [[2007]]|publisher=[[EW.com]]|accessdate=2008-01-04}}</ref> ''No Country for Old Men'' tells the story of a drug deal gone bad and the ensuing cat-and-mouse [[drama film|drama]], as three men crisscross each other's paths in the desert landscape of 1980 [[West Texas]]. The film examines the themes of fate and circumstance the Coen brothers have previously explored in ''[[Blood Simple]]'' and ''[[Fargo (film)|Fargo]]''.


''No Country for Old Men'' has been highly praised by critics. [[Roger Ebert]] of the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' called it "as good a film as the Coen brothers…have ever made."<ref>Roger Ebert [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071108/REVIEWS/711080304/1023 ''Chicago Sun-Times''], November 8, 2007.</ref> A ''[[Guardian (newspaper)|Guardian]]'' journalist said the film proved "that the Coens' technical abilities, and their feel for a landscape-based Western classicism reminiscent of [[Anthony Mann]] and [[Sam Peckinpah]], are matched by few living directors."<ref name="Guardian">{{cite web | last = Patterson | first = John | author-link = | title = 'We've killed a lot of animals' | publisher = Guardian | volume = | issue = | pages = Film/Interviews | year = | date = [[2007-12-21]] | url = http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,,2230352,00.html | accessdate = 2007-12-27}}</ref> The film was honored with numerous awards, garnering three [[British Academy of Film and Television Arts|British Academy of Film awards]], two [[Golden Globe]]s, and four [[Academy Awards]], including [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]], [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]], and [[Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay|Best Adapted Screenplay]].
''No Country for Old Men'' has been highly praised by critics. [[Roger Ebert]] of the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' called it "as good a film as the Coen brothers…have ever made."<ref>Roger Ebert [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071108/REVIEWS/711080304/1023 ''Chicago Sun-Times''], November 8, 2007.</ref> A ''[[Guardian (newspaper)|Guardian]]'' journalist said the film proved "that the Coens' technical abilities, and their feel for a landscape-based Western classicism reminiscent of [[Anthony Mann]] and [[Sam Peckinpah]], are matched by few living directors."<ref name="Guardian">{{cite web | last = Patterson | first = John | author-link = | title = 'We've killed a lot of animals' | publisher = Guardian | volume = | issue = | pages = Film/Interviews | year = | date = [[2007-12-21]] | url = http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,,2230352,00.html | accessdate = 2007-12-27}}</ref> The film was honored with numerous awards, garnering three [[British Academy of Film and Television Arts|British Academy of Film awards]], two [[Golden Globe]]s, and four [[Academy Awards]], including [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]], [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]], and [[Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay|Best Adapted Screenplay]].

Revision as of 03:18, 6 May 2008

No Country for Old Men
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJoel Coen
Ethan Coen
Written byScreenplay:
Joel Coen
Ethan Coen
Novel:
Cormac McCarthy
Produced byJoel Coen
Ethan Coen
Scott Rudin
StarringTommy Lee Jones
Josh Brolin
Javier Bardem
CinematographyRoger Deakins
Edited byRoderick Jaynes
Music byCarter Burwell
Distributed byMiramax Films (US)
Paramount Vantage (non-US)
Release dates
United States:
November 9 2007
(limited)
November 21 2007
(wide)
Australia:
26 December 2007
United Kingdom:
18 January 2008
Running time
122 min.
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
BudgetUS$25 million

No Country for Old Men is a 2007 crime thriller film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, starring Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, and Javier Bardem. Adapted from the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name,[1][2] No Country for Old Men tells the story of a drug deal gone bad and the ensuing cat-and-mouse drama, as three men crisscross each other's paths in the desert landscape of 1980 West Texas. The film examines the themes of fate and circumstance the Coen brothers have previously explored in Blood Simple and Fargo.

No Country for Old Men has been highly praised by critics. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called it "as good a film as the Coen brothers…have ever made."[3] A Guardian journalist said the film proved "that the Coens' technical abilities, and their feel for a landscape-based Western classicism reminiscent of Anthony Mann and Sam Peckinpah, are matched by few living directors."[4] The film was honored with numerous awards, garnering three British Academy of Film awards, two Golden Globes, and four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Plot

The film opens with shots of desolate, wide-open country in West Texas in June 1980. In a voiceover, the local sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) tells of the changing times as the region becomes increasingly violent. The antagonist, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), and his unique weapon, a captive bolt pistol, are introduced as Chigurh strangles a sheriff's deputy, escapes custody, and steals a car by using the bolt pistol to kill the driver. Meanwhile, Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), hunting pronghorn near the Rio Grande, comes across a collection of corpses and one dying Mexican: the aftermath of a drug deal gone awry. He also finds two million dollars in a satchel a short distance from the massacre. Initially taking the money and leaving the Mexican to die, Moss suffers a pang of conscience later that night and returns with water for the dying man. Discovered by returning Mexican gangsters, this good deed sets off a cat-and-mouse game in which the hunter and hunted frequently switch roles, as the gang of Mexicans, Moss, Chigurh, and Bell chase each other and the money across the Texas and Mexico landscapes.

Chigurh, a professional hitman, has been hired to retrieve the satchel of money. Inside the money is a hidden radio transponder which Chigurh has been following via his corresponding receiver. The Mexicans track Moss to the motel room where Moss has hidden the satchel inside an air vent. They wait inside the room to ambush him.

Moss, however, sees their car, rents an adjacent room, and retrieves the satchel through the common vent. Chigurh tracks the money to Moss's original room, bursts in, and slaughters the Mexicans. Searching for the satchel, Chigurh sees the the vent cover, unscrews it using a dime, and looks inside where he sees tell-tale scuff marks. He realizes that Moss has escaped with the money. Using the receiver again, Chigurh tracks Moss to a border town hotel, his pursuit climaxing in a firefight that spills onto the streets.

Narrowly escaping death by crossing the border, the wounded Moss wakes up, is transported to a Mexican hospital, and meets Carson Wells (Woody Harrelson), another operative hired by the drug buyer. After Moss rejects Wells's offer to save his life, Wells returns to his hotel where he is captured and killed by Chigurh, just as Moss calls Wells. Picking up the phone, Chigurh offers to spare Moss's wife Carla Jean (though he would still kill Moss) if Moss forfeits the money, an offer that Moss angrily rejects.

Moss arranges a rendezvous with Carla Jean in El Paso to give her the money and send her out of harm’s way. The characters all converge on a seedy hotel in El Paso, but not simultaneously: Sheriff Bell and Carla Jean do not arrive until after Moss has been killed by the Mexicans in a shootout.

Sheriff Bell returns that night to the now-quiet motel and finds that the lock to Moss's hotel room door has been blown out. Chigurh is shown hiding behind the door of the hotel room as he observes Bell in the reflection of the empty lock hole. His gun drawn, Bell enters the room and notices the vent cover has been removed with a dime. Bell eventually leaves without encountering Chigurh.

Some time later Bell visits his Uncle Ellis (Barry Corbin), an ex-lawman. Bell is planning to retire due to his weariness of the changing times, but Ellis points out that the region has always been violent. He accuses Bell of "vanity" in thinking that he could personally make a difference.

Chigurh, in the meantime, has located the widowed Carla Jean and waits for her at her recently deceased mother's home. Despite telling her that he "gave Llewelyn his word" that she would die if Moss did not hand over the money, Chigurh reconsiders and offers Carla Jean the same "coin flip" opportunity previously given to an innocent bystander. Carla Jean, however, refuses to call heads or tails, claiming that they have no say.

The audience sees Chigurh leaving the house, carefully checking the soles of his boots. As Chigurh drives away he is seriously injured in a car accident where his left arm is badly broken; he manages, however, to leave the scene before the police arrive.

The film closes with Bell at home, in retirement, reflecting on his life choices. Bell relates to his wife (Tess Harper) two dreams he had, both involving his deceased father who was also a lawman. Bell reveals that in the first dream he lost "some money" that his father had given him; in the second dream, he and his father were riding horses through a snowy mountain pass. His father, who was carrying fire in a horn, quietly passed by Bell with his head down and was "going on ahead, and fixin' to make a fire" in the surrounding dark and cold. When Bell got there, his father would be waiting. Bell closes the dream narrative, and the film, with the final words: "And then I woke up."

Themes and style

While No Country for Old Men is a "doggedly faithful" adaptation of McCarthy's 2005 novel and its themes, the film also revisits themes which the Coens had explored in their earlier movies Blood Simple and Fargo.[5] The novel's motifs of chance, free-will, and predestination are familiar territory for the Coen brothers, who presented similar threads and tapestries of "fate [and] circumstance" in those earlier works.[6][7] Numerous critics cited the importance of chance to both the novel and the film, focusing on Chigurh's fate-deciding coin flipping,[8] but noted that the nature of the film medium made it difficult to include the "self-reflective qualities of McCarthy’s novel."[9]

In The Village Voice, Scott Foundas writes that "Like McCarthy, the Coens are markedly less interested in who (if anyone) gets away with the loot than in the primal forces that urge the characters forward... In the end, everyone in No Country for Old Men is both hunter and hunted, members of some endangered species trying to forestall their extinction."[10] Roger Ebert writes that "the movie demonstrates how pitiful ordinary human feelings are in the face of implacable injustice."[11]

New York Times critic A.O. Scott points out that Chigurh, Moss, and Bell each "occupy the screen one at a time, almost never appearing in the frame together, even as their fates become ever more intimately entwined."[12]

Variety critic Todd McCarthy describes Chigurh's modus operandi:

Death walks hand in hand with Chigurh wherever he goes, unless he decides otherwise ... if everything you've done in your life has led you to him, he may explain to his about-to-be victims, your time might just have come. 'You don't have to do this,' the innocent invariably insist to a man whose murderous code dictates otherwise. Occasionally, however, he will allow someone to decide his own fate by coin toss, notably in a tense early scene in an old filling station marbled with nervous humor.[13]

Production

Producer Scott Rudin bought the book rights to McCarthy's novel and suggested a film adaptation to the Coen Brothers, who at the time were attempting to adapt the novel To the White Sea by James Dickey.[14] By August 2005, the Coen Brothers agreed to write and direct a film adaptation of No Country for Old Men, having identified with how the novel provided a sense of place and also how it played with genre conventions. Joel Coen said of the unconventional approach, "That was familiar, congenial to us; we're naturally attracted to subverting genre. We liked the fact that the bad guys never really meet the good guys, that McCarthy did not follow through on formula expectations."[14][15] The Coens also identified the appeal of the novel to be its "pitiless quality". Ethan Coen explained, "That's a hallmark of the book, which has an unforgiving landscape and characters but is also about finding some kind of beauty without being sentimental." The adaptation was to be the second of McCarthy's work, following the 2000 film All the Pretty Horses.[16]

Writing

The brothers kept the script faithful to the book, only pruning the story where necessary.[14] The script was so faithful to the novel that Ethan described the screenwriting process by saying, "[O]ne of us types into the computer while the other holds the spine of the book open flat." [4] A teenage runaway who appeared late in the book and the backstory related to Bell were both removed.[17] Also changed from the source material was Carla Jean Moss' reaction when finally faced with the imposing figure of Chigurh. As Kelly MacDonald explained to CanMag: "The ending of the book is different. She reacts more in the way I react. She kind of falls apart. In the film she's been through so much and she can't lose any more. It's just she's got this quiet acceptance of it."[18]

The writing is also notable for its minimal use of dialogue, relying mostly on cinematography and editing to create the film's dramatic tension. Josh Brolin discussed his initial nervousness with having so little dialogue to work with:

I mean it was a fear, for sure, because dialogue that’s what you kind of rest upon as an actor, you know? [...] Drama and all the stuff is all dialogue motivated. You have to figure out different ways to convey ideas. You don’t want to over-compensate because the fear is that you’re going to be boring if nothing’s going on. You start doing this and this and taking off your hat and putting it on again or some bullshit that doesn’t need to be there. So yeah, I was a little afraid of that in the beginning.[19]

Casting

Actors Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones entered talks to join the cast in February 2006.[20] Jones was the first actor to be officially cast in No Country for Old Men. The Coen Brothers felt that Jones fit the role since they wanted to avoid sentimentality and not have the audiences perceive the character to be a Charley Weaver.[14] Praising Tommy Lee Jones' credentials, the Coen brothers said, "He's from San Saba, Texas, not far from where the movie takes place. He's the real thing regarding that region." Joel Coen further outlined the directors' reasons for hiring Tommy Lee Jones in interview with Emanuel Levy:

There are just very, very few people who can carry a role like this one [...] Sheriff Bell is the soul of the movie and also, in a fundamental way, the region is so much a part of Sheriff Bell, so we needed someone who understood it [...] It’s a role that also requires a kind of subtlety that only a really, really great actor can bring to it. Again, the list of these is pretty short, so when you put those two criteria together, you come up with Tommy Lee Jones. Being a Texan, the region is a part of his core.[21]

Josh Brolin joined the cast shortly after in April, prior to the start of production.[22] Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino filmed Brolin's first audition for the movie on a $1 million Genesis camera during lunch while filming Grindhouse; however, Brolin was initially overlooked for the role of Llewelyn. According to Brolin, the Coens's only response to the audition tape was, "Who lit it?"[23] Brolin said it was only due to his agents' persistence that he eventually got a callback:

What I found out now was their last casting session, they were focused on a couple of actors. They called me the night before and they said, basically, no harm, no foul. ‘Leave us alone, have him come down.’ I studied a few scenes and I came down and I met them, and there was really no reaction in the meeting. I walked out thinking, ‘It was great meeting the Coens. I’m a big fan. That’s cool.’ And by the time I got home I found out they wanted me to do it.[19]

Brolin broke his collarbone in a motorcycle accident a few days before filming was due to begin; however he and his doctor lied about the extent of his injury to the Coens and they let him continue in the role.[24]

The Coens later wrote a short tongue-in-cheek piece for Esquire magazine called "Josh Brolin, the Casting Mistake of the Year," in which they claimed to have believed that they had cast James Brolin in the role of the aging Vietnam vet, and upon realizing their mistake were forced to reset the movie in the year 1980, and attempted, unsuccessfully, to recast Tommy Lee Jones' role with Shia LaBeouf.[25]

Shooting

The project was a co-production between Miramax Films and Paramount's classics-based division in a 50/50 partnership, and production was scheduled for May 2006 in New Mexico and Texas. With a total budget of $25 million, production was slated to take place in the cities of Las Vegas and Santa Fe, New Mexico, as well as in the state of Texas. Filmmakers estimated spending between $12 and $17 million of the budget in New Mexico.[26] A movie set of a border checkpoint was built at the intersection of Interstate 25 and Route 60.[27] The bulk of the film was shot in New Mexico, and primarily there in Las Vegas, which doubled as the border towns of Eagle Pass and Del Rio, Texas. The U.S.-Mexico border crossing bridge was actually a freeway overpass in Las Vegas. Other scenes were filmed around Marfa and Sanderson in West Texas, and the scene in the town square was filmed in Piedras Negras, Coahuila in Mexico.[28]

Cinematographer Roger Deakins, collaborating with the Coen Brothers for the ninth time, spoke of his approach to the film's look: "The big challenge on No Country for Old Men is making it very realistic, to match the story. It's early days, but I'm imagining doing it very edgy and dark, and quite sparse. Not so stylized."[29]

Directing

One of the Coen brothers' influences was the works of director Sam Peckinpah. In an interview for The Guardian, they said "Hard men in the south-west shooting each other - that's definitely Sam Peckinpah's thing. We were aware of those similarities, certainly."[4]

In an interview in the Sydney Morning Herald, the Coens discussed choreographing and directing the film's violent scenes:

'That stuff is such fun to do,' the brothers chime in at the mention of their penchant for blood-letting. 'Even Javier would come in by the end of the movie, rub his hands together and say, "OK, who am I killing today?"' adds Joel. 'It's fun to figure out,' says Ethan. 'It's fun working out how to choreograph it, how to shoot it, how to engage audiences watching it.'[30]

Josh Brolin discussed the brothers' directing style in interview, saying that the Coens

only really say what needs to be said. They don’t sit there as directors and manipulate you and go into page after page to try to get you to a certain place. They may come in and say one word or two words, so that was nice to be around in order to feed the other thing. ‘What should I do right now? I’ll just watch Ethan go humming to himself and pacing. Maybe that’s what I should do, too.’[19]

Musical score

Unusual for a thriller, the Coens worked against Hollywood convention and minimized the score used in the film, leaving large sections devoid of music. The concept was Ethan's who persuaded a skeptical Joel to go with that idea. There is some music in the movie, scored by the Coens' longtime composer, Carter Burwell, but even that eschews conventional instrumentation using singing bowls and Buddhist standing metal bells that produces the minimalist sounds required for the score. The movie contains only 16 minutes of music in total with several of those in the end credits, though unusually, the film ends and cuts immediately to credits without music playing over the credits for several seconds. Sound editing and effects were provided by another longtime Coens collaborator, Skip Lievsay, who used a mixture of emphatic sounds (gun shots) and ambient noise (engine noise, prairie winds) in the mix. The cattle gun used by Chigurh was in fact voiced by a pneumatic nail gun.[31]

Cast and characters

Tommy Lee Jones as Sheriff Ed Tom Bell
A laconic, soon-to-retire small-town sheriff.
Josh Brolin as Llewelyn Moss
A welder and Vietnam veteran who flees with $2 million in drug money. He uses a sawed off Winchester Model 1897 and a Remington Model 700.
Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh
An assassin hired to recover the drug money. The character was a recurrence of the "Unstoppable Evil" archetype found in the Coen Brothers' work, though the brothers wanted to avoid one-dimensionality, particularly a comparison to The Terminator.[17] The Coen Brothers sought to cast someone "who could have come from Mars" to avoid a sense of identification. The brothers introduced the character in the beginning of the film in a manner similar to the opening of the 1976 film The Man Who Fell to Earth.[14] Chigurh has been perceived as a "modern equivalent of Death from Ingmar Bergman's 1957 film The Seventh Seal".[32] Chigurh's distinctive look was derived from a 1979 photo from a book supplied by Tommy Lee Jones which featured photos of brothel patrons on the Texas-Mexico border.[33] Describing his "extraordinary moptop haircut," he said, "You don't have to act the haircut. The haircut acts by itself." Bardem signed on because he had been a Coens fan ever since he saw their debut, Blood Simple.[34]
Kelly Macdonald as Carla Jean Moss
Llewelyn Moss' wife. Despite having severe misgivings about her husband's plans to keep the money, she still supports him. Macdonald said that what attracted her to the character of Moss was that she "wasn't obvious. She wasn't your typical trailer trash kind of character. At first you think she's one thing and by the end of the film, you realize that she's not quite as naïve as she might come across" [18]
Woody Harrelson as Carson Wells
A cocky bounty hunter and retired colonel hired to intercept Chigurh and recover the drug money.
Tess Harper as Loretta Bell
Bell's wife, provides reassurance in his darker moods.
Barry Corbin as Ellis
A retired sheriff shot in the line of duty and now wheelchair-bound. He acts as a straight-talking sounding board to his nephew, Bell.
Beth Grant as Agnes
Carla Jean's mother and the mother-in-law of Moss. She provides a little comic relief despite the fact that she is dying from "the cancer".
Stephen Root as Man who hires Wells
A mysterious figure who apparently was involved in the financing of the drug deal and the search for the money. He hired Wells, Chigurh and the Mexicans.
Gene Jones as Thomas Thayer
Elderly rural gas station clerk with good fortune as his call on Anton's coin flip saves his life.
Garret Dillahunt as Wendell
Bell's inexperienced deputy sheriff, Wendell assists in the investigation and provides comic relief.

Release

Theatrical run

No Country for Old Men premiered in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival on May 19 2007.[35] The film commercially opened in limited release in 28 theaters in the United States on November 9 2007, grossing $1,226,333 over the opening weekend. The film expanded to a wide release in 860 theaters in the United States on November 21 2007, grossing $7,776,773 over the first weekend. The film subsequently increased the number of theaters to 2,037.[36] The film opened in Australia on December 26 2007, and in the United Kingdom (limited release) and Ireland on January 18 2008.[37] As of March 9 2008, the film has grossed $72,659,000 domestically (United States).[36]

Home media

Buena Vista Home Entertainment released the movie on DVD and in the high definition Blu-ray format on March 11 2008. The only extras are three behind–the–scenes featurettes.[38]

The Region 2 DVD will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on June 2. If purchased from Play.com the DVD comes with a set of limited edition art cards. HMV is selling the DVD in an exclusive Steelbook case.

Reception

As of March 19th 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes recorded that 94 percent of 189 critics gave the film positive reviews,[39] while another review aggregator, Metacritic, records an average score of 91%, based on 37 reviews.[40] The film was widely discussed as a possible candidate for several Oscars,[41][42][43] before going on to receive eight nominations, eventually winning four Academy Awards in 2008. Javier Bardem, in particular, has received considerable praise for his performance in the film. Roger Ebert gave the movie a four star review saying that it was "a masterful evocation of time, place, character, moral choices, immoral certainties, human nature and fate."[44] Walter Chaw of Film Freak Central also praised the film as an effective adaptation of the source novel, declaring "...the Coens have distilled the essence of McCarthy's gash-deep nostalgia for the illusory, ephemeral past... and packaged it in the very best moments of their own well of extraordinary visions".[45] Two minority, dissenting voices were Jonathan Rosenbaum (Chicago Reader) and Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Stephen Hunter (The Washington Post). Rosenbaum, while admiring the film's aesthetics, questioned its moral culpability: for him, the Coens expend great energy on depicting horror, while encouraging us to "hypocritically shake our heads at the sadness of it all".[46] Hunter also acknowledged the Coens's film craft, but "just [didn't] like it very much": "Nobody goes to the movies for the irony. They go for the satisfaction."[47]

David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz both gave the film five stars. Stratton remarked "this magnificent film represents the best work the Coen Brothers have done since Fargo. Like that movie classic, this is a cold-blooded thriller with a darkly humorous edge" and "Hitchcock wouldn’t have done the suspense better." Pomeranz said "it resonates within me. It's got such a sense of place and language."[48] Time magazine's Richard Corliss named the film one of the Top 10 Movies of 2007, ranking it at #1. Corliss praised Bardem’s performance as “mesmerizing” and “astonishing”, and the film as “dry, funny, beautifully acted, thrillingly cinematic.”[49] Corliss’ fellow Time writer Richard Schickel ranked the film #2 on his own Top 10 list, saying that the film returned the Coen brothers “to their best emotional territory of Fargo and Miller's Crossing, a place where comic innocence and unmediated violence explosively coexist. You don't know whether to laugh or cry, but you cannot avert your eyes from the resulting chaos.”[50]

Reviews

Top ten lists

The film appeared on more critics' top ten lists (354) than any other film of 2007, and was more critics' #1 film (90) than any other.[51] Some of the notable critics' placement of No Country for Old Men are:[52]

Awards and nominations

Award Category Winner/Nominee Won
Academy Awards Best Director Joel and Ethan Coen Green tickY
Best Picture Scott Rudin, Joel and Ethan Coen Green tickY
Best Screenplay – Adapted Joel and Ethan Coen Green tickY
Best Supporting Actor Javier Bardem Green tickY
Best Cinematography Roger Deakins Red XN
Best Film Editing Roderick Jaynes Red XN
Best Sound Editing Skip Lievsay Red XN
Best Sound Mixing Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff, and Peter Kurland Red XN

No Country for Old Men was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won four, including Best Picture.[43] Additionally, Javier Bardem won Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role; the Coen Brothers won Achievement in Directing (Best Director) and Best Adapted Screenplay. Other nominations included Best Film Editing (Roderick Jaynes), Best Cinematography (Roger Deakins), Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing.[55] "Roderick Jaynes" is a pseudonym for the Coen Brothers, who edit their own movies.

The film was also nominated for four Golden Globe Awards, winning two at the 65th Golden Globe Awards.[56] Javier Bardem won Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture and the Coen Brothers won Best Screenplay – Motion Picture. The film was also nominated for Best Motion Picture – Drama, and Best Director (Coen Brothers). Earlier in 2007 it was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.[57] The Screen Actors Guild gave a nomination nod to the cast for its "Outstanding Performance".[58] Also, the film won top honors on January 26, 2008 at the Directors Guild of America Awards for Joel and Ethan Coen. The film was nominated for nine Orange British Academy Film Awards's in 2008 and won in three categories; Joel and Ethan Coen winning the award for Best Director, Roger Deakins winning for Best Cinematography and Javier Bardem winning for Best Supporting Actor.[59]

Consonant with the positive critical response, No Country for Old Men received widespread formal recognition from numerous North American critics' associations (New York Film Critics Circle, Toronto Film Critics Association, Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association, National Board of Review, New York Film Critics Online, Chicago Film Critics Association, Boston Society of Film Critics, Austin Film Critics Association, and San Diego Film Critics Society).[60][61][62][63][64] The American Film Institute listed it as an AFI Movie of the Year for 2007, and the Australian Film Critics Association and Houston Film Critics Society both voted it best film of 2007.[65]

References

  1. ^ Thompson, Gary (November 9 2007). "Creep in the heart of Texas". Philadelphia Daily News. Retrieved 2008-01-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ Schwarzbaum, Lisa (November 7 2007). "No Country for Old Men". EW.com. Retrieved 2008-01-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times, November 8, 2007.
  4. ^ a b c Patterson, John (2007-12-21). "'We've killed a lot of animals'". Guardian. pp. Film/Interviews. Retrieved 2007-12-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ Stratton, David. "No Country for Old Men interview". At the Movies.
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  18. ^ a b Topel, Fred. "Kelly MacDonald on No Country for Old Men". CanMag.
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  21. ^ "No Country for Old Men: Joel and Ethan Coen Interview". Emanuel Levy.
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  23. ^ Tallerico, Brian. "Josh Brolin - No Country For Old Men Interview". thedeadbolt.com.
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  27. ^ Eddie Moore (2006-06-29). "Make-Believe Border". Albuquerque Journal. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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  30. ^ "In for the Kill".
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  61. ^ Coyle, Jake (2007-12-10). "New York Film Critics choose 'No Country for Old Men'". Retrieved 2007-12-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  62. ^ "No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood Top Critics' Lists in Toronto, San Diego, Austin". Rotten Tomatoes / IGN Entertainment, Inc. 2007-12-19. Retrieved 2007-12-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  63. ^ Associated Press (2007-12-05). "National Board of Review: 'No Country for Old Men' Best Film of '07". FOX News Network, LLC. Retrieved 2007-12-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  64. ^ Maxwell, Erin (2007-12-16). "Chicago critics love 'Country'". Retrieved 2007-12-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  65. ^ "No Country for Old Men, Juno named to AFI's Top 10 of year". CBC. 2007-12-17. Retrieved 2007-12-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
Awards
Preceded by Academy Award for Best Picture
2007
Succeeded by
Incumbent