Wednesday, November 25, 2020

No Country For Old Men

No Country for Old Men (2007)

Runtime: 122 minutes

Directed by: The Coen Brothers

Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson, Kelly Macdonald

From: Miramax/Paramount Vantage

The movie that made someone I know think they got a defective DVD-R from a garage sale.

As I've mentioned before, when a personal anecdote-especially an odd one-can be shared by me, it is a good thing. In this case, it was a sort of absurd situation. Last night a pal watched this movie for the first time... I had seen it before years ago. It was me who pointed out to them that the disc was not an official release and instead was burned; the glued-on label and the back of the disc gave it away. After the movie this person asked me if something was wrong with their disc or if the ending was left off due to how abrupt it was. It was quickly determined that their copy was fine; they were not happy with how the movie stops rather than concludes and that is fair. While I don't hate it, for me it was not 100% satisfying either.

It is a dark yet interesting film concerning a group of odd and colorful characters in 1980 Texas and their desire to acquire or get back their 2 million dollars in drug money. I can give it high marks because of the plot, the characters, and the talented cast-Bardem did deserve his Oscar for his portrayal of Anton Chigurh-along with the overarching themes of drugs on America, people adapting to change, and fears over the future for those in the twilight of their lives.

All that said, it is not a movie I love like many do and it's not something seen by me as “one of the best of the 2000's”. Ever since the 2008 Oscars people have compared this to There Will Be Blood and despite this getting the Best Picture nod, I definitely prefer TWBB. At least I was finally able to talk about this here and the person who unknowingly bought a burned copy of this at a random garage sale, at least they only paid two dollars and there was no problem with the disc.

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