The Coen Brothers are a curious little duo. They basically make films according to their own whims no matter which way the winds or trends go and you have to adore them for it. Sometimes their films fall out of favor and or are just plainly out of synch with the popular zeigeist, but even these films generally are worth a second look.
We digress. Every decade or so the Coen’s get dark and nasty and their latest noir, not-quite Western thriller, “No Country For Old Men,” is just that only it makes “Fargo” look like “Billy Madison” when it comes to brutality.
Adapted by a Cormac McCarthy novel and having not read it, the way the Coens tell it, they basically just filmed what was already in the book. And so the book must be pretty harrowing cause this was easily the darkest, most sinister and vicious Coen Brothers film to date.
The gist is this: a drug deal goes wrong and a random West Texas drifter (a surprisingly stellar Josh Brolin, we officially eat our words) comes upon a graveyard of bodies and a shitload of cash. Of course, he’s going to pocket it and run and naturally this sets off a chain of events that mostly involves a fucking terrifying Javier Bardem tracking him down like a relentless and merciless terminator. Tommy Lee Jones plays the local sheriff tracking both of them down and Woody Harrelson briefly appears as a contemporary “fixer” contracted to bring the money home. Scottish dollface Kelly Macdonald plays Brolin’s sassy wife (and she does an amazing job of not only hiding her thick brogue, but pulling off a convincing West Texas drawl).
In short: there’s a lot of bullets, a lot of blood, a lot of intrigue and a lot of heartstopping and downright chilling moments (but there’s a lot of laconic, dry, and hilarious dialogue too). People want their money back and you know how this one goes.
As for critics (and apparently there was many of them) that saw this film as some bigger political allegory about George W. Bush or a conscious nod to their previous films, the Coen Brothers shot these theories down (rather hilariously too) and stressed that they adapted what McCarthy already had down on the page during the New York Film Festival press conference.
As for Javier Bardem’s pageboy haircut, was it his idea? Hell, no. Bardem said it was all the Coen brothers twisted idea, “I was just the victim, I’m not that sick,” and moaned to co-star Josh Brolin at the time, “I’m not going to get laid for three months!”
When asked what Tommy Lee Jones did to prepare for the role he said dryly, “I read the book.” When asked what the Coen Brothers’ strengths were for working on the adaptation, the cranky, but funny Academy Award winner said, “It’s a really good thing that Ethan and Joel could read.”
Josh Brolin said the Coen bros. gave zero direction unless you did something wrong (which he found unnerving until he figured out this meant he was doing a good job) and he and Bardem seemed to have a great rapport despite playing people totally at odds.
It’s hard for us to write this as a “review,” but the filmmaking was simple, but powerful. Clearly the directors knew to not stand in the way of the material and it’s their most bonechilling, riveting and commanding piece of work since “Miller’s Crossing” (arguably their best ever) and up there with the most masterful films they’ve ever made. [A]
This review originally ran on October 18 2007 at 10:30 a.m. during the New York Film Festival, but given the film is out in NY and L.A. now, we wanted to re-remind you of what we thought. The book is magnificent as well.