By GABRIELLE HARRADINE Special to the Daily Press
The newest Coen Brothers movie, written and directed by both Joel and Ethan, is a disturbing tale told through a Texan’s drawl. The story takes place around a small border town where drug-trafficking upsets the otherwise sleepy community. Like “Fargo,” their previous crime in a small community film, “No Country for Old Men” manages to deliver moments of behavior-based humor that made “Fargo” work so well. The film even includes a comment on the appropriateness of laughter during serious moments: Tommy Lee Jones’ character says, “Sometimes there’s nothing else to do but laugh.” But be warned: This is a much grittier film than “Fargo.”
Javier Bardem plays Anton Chigurh, a psychopathic killer, who carries around a handy-sized tank of compressed air, a tool apparently used in cattle stunning, as one of his weapons. His performance is so intense, with his girlish hair and unnerving stare that he quickly becomes the main fuel of the film’s fire.
Other strong performances come from Josh Brolin, who plays Llewelyn Moss, a welder, who gets mixed up with the wrong people when he stumbles upon a drug deal gone sour. Moss leaves the stockpile of dead bodies untouched, but tracks down and takes the money that’s been left behind. When he makes the bad choice of going back to the scene, he gets found out by some new visitors, which eventually puts Chigurh on his trail.
Scottish born Kelly Macdonald, who plays Moss’ wife in the film, does a convincing job as a small town Texas girl. The relationship between her and her husband is a small part of the movie, but it is notable. They share a sweet collection of poignant moments that light-handedly convey a young couple in love.
Jones plays Ed Tom Bell, a salt-of-the-earth kind of guy that he’s has played before. He’s good this time around, mastering the small town attitude that creates much of the humor in the film, and making us feel the reason for every weathered crease on his face — I just felt like I’d seen it before. Bell’s a ready-to-retire small town sheriff, who progressively loses faith in the times as he continues to find the dead bodies that Chigurh leaves in his path.
Woody Harrelson has a small role in the film as Carson Wells, an ex-colonel who’s dealt with Chigurh before. He is hired to recover the drug money and proves his skills by finding Moss quickly, but Wells’ search ends not long after Chigurh finds him.
The film is an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel of the same name. The cast of “No Country for Old Men” is impressive with Bardem leading the way — Chigurh, the new ultimate bad-guy, is sure to become a lasting figure in the cult world. The story is fused with plenty of nail-biting suspense and shoot-em-up action to delight most moviegoers, but expect to be surprised by a few choices the Coen Brothers made to go against the Hollywood grain. Most notably, the offing of the main character before the end of the film, which is also not shown on camera, as well as an ending with a timing that left the audience in a stunned silence.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 17, 2007. Read the original PDF.