No Country for Old Men, 4 stars
Saw the Coen Brothers’ latest movie, No Country for Old Men, and quite liked it, and was quite perplexed by it.
This is a movie that resembles a western in all but the era, set in the early eighties, it gives convenient access to the war in Vietnam and old relatives reminiscing about the true frontier days.
Plotwise the movie resembles Sam Raimi’s A Simple Plan a lot, “finders keepers” does not guarantee happiness when dirty money is concerned.
Javier Bardem’s psychotic killer is worth all the accolades he has been receiving - the character’s monomanic attention to the task at hand is at times scary indeed. The other highlight is the introduction of Kelly MacDonald, at times I was pretty sure I was watching a younger clone of Kate Winslet’s on screen, and that is never a bad thing.
The film starts out well, and moves towards the plot’s inevitable conclusion. The last twenty or so minutes are downright odd, and will raise a lot of questions. The expectation that the runaway train would jump back to the tracks of Hollywood convention is never fulfilled, and the lack of any explanations will mystify viewers. I haven’t read the original novel, and thus cannot comment on whether serious artistic liberties were taken with the plot. As it stands, the finale fizzles out and leaves a sour taste in the mouths of the audience.
But it’s far from an unpleasant aftertaste, just unexpected. And when counting in the half a dozen other actors who nail their roles exactly and the breathtaking cinametography, there’s really not much to complain about.
Recommended, but not the masterpiece that Fargo was, back in the day.
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