Wednesday, November 21, 2007

No Country for Old Men -- review of sorts

This movie was a shoe-in for me on many levels. For one, Cormac McCarthy was a revelation to me as a writer. Blood Meridian blew my mind -- it was violent, gorgeous, biblical in sweep. Like nothing I had ever read, except maybe Faulkner.

So, I'm supposed to be talking about the movie. What can I say, it's awesome. The Coen Brothers do a fantastic job in their sincere, dry, in your face way. Their adaptation from the book is excellent, the dialog is just pitch perfect (sorry for the cliche, but it is).

Every actor on the screen just pops, especially Tommy Lee Jones. He's one of my favorites anyway, but he really nails this performance. It's like it was written for him. When he finished the movie with the last few lines of dialog, it was like watching a gold-winning gymnast peg a landing. Ok that's a horrible analogy. It was a dam near perfect confluence of writing and acting.

The movie has multiple oscars written all over it.

It's a violent movie, don't be mistaken. It's about a psychopath -- no bones about it. It is a rough film.

I'm just going to leave it at, if you like the Cohen brothers, or Cormac McCarthy, or modern noir thrillers, or Tommy Lee Jones just go see it. Trust me. If you are squeamish, you probably want to stay home for this one, or be prepared to cover your eyes a few times.



Enjoy your artistic heroes,

Bp

4 comments:

Shocho said...

Good Lord, this movie is so up my alley it's like Christine busting up her fenders to get down it. I must hie me to the local movie purveyor. Thanks for the review!

Bpaul said...

Was simplistic and weirdly written, as I was in a hurry to go out and pick mushrooms for tonight's dinner.

I look forward to seeing your reaction. Do write or post or comment here once you've seen it plz.

Anonymous said...

Yikes! the trailers are suitably intense - one, the "redband" version actually requires name/zip/birthday to even access. . .
No one makes 'thrillers' like the Coen Brothers. I rarely mess with overtly violent films - but I never, never miss one of theirs.
I likes me some kickass dialog with the gristly bits, thanks!

Bpaul said...

"I likes me some kickass dialog with the gristly bits, thanks!"

That it delivers in spades. Down tempo, understated, dry cowboy talk, it's awesome.