No Country for Old Men

Francesco Bonomo · January 20, 2008

Is there an article on 'No Country' in AC, did I miss it?

October 2007, interview with Roger Deakins about "Jesse James" and "No Country".

Available on the AC website, here.

Edgar Dubrovskiy · January 21, 2008

October 2007, interview with Roger Deakins about "Jesse James" and "No Country".
Available on the AC website, here.

Thanks!

Ken Cangi · March 15, 2008

I just saw No Country on DVD. I looked forward to this film, and I have to say that it didn't work for me. Deakins' work was top-shelf, but the story fell short on several levels.

I don't know whether to call it an indiscriminate use of suspension of disbelief or just lazy plot development, but so much of this story made no sense. For instance, how did Woody Harrelson find Brolin in a Mexican Hospital, and how did Bardem find Harrelson and Brolin in Mexico, after the tracking device had already been eliminated? Maybe there were more tracking devices in the bag, but we would never know that because Brolin - survival skills notwithstanding - didn't bother to empty the bag and check. It reminded me of so many B-movies in which the predator always seems to know where the prey is hiding.

Fargo, and O Brother, Where Art Thou? were much more intelligently executed stories, IMO.

Sakari Suuronen · April 6, 2008

Awsome film. Did anyone notice any similarities between this and Rolling Thunder? I have a feeling that The Coens studied that movie carefully.

April 10, 2008

The cinematography which is indeed every bit 1st rate to me seems wasted on this film.

How did this piece of work even got nominated?

Javier Bardem?s Dime Store Confuscious was boring, laughable and weak, at best.

The extent to which Tommy Lee Jones channeled good?ol sarcasm into a unique character was truly haunting, and by ?Truly haunting?, I mean the ghost of Andy Griffith!

Woody Harrelson?s riveting performance of ?We need something that talks.?

was like being at a funeral held for the passing of my 10 bucks.

The list could go on, and when I look at what I paid to have to over look, then seriously, maybe Rambo should have been nominated.

Perhaps only once in lifetime does a film so compelling come along that it challenges us to rethink the very way we see our world, unfortunately No Country isn?t that film, instead its one that apparently came along to serve as a chilling reminder that like drinking and driving, creative decision making and ?Hey I got an idea, how about a tracking device?? should be kept as far apart as possible, in the context of ?Oscar worthy? films.

So is No Country an anti film, or did I miss the last train out to dazzled by the politically charged metaphoric opera predictably painted under the surface?

The cinematography is beautiful, but to me wasted in this film as it seems to be the pretty green curtain from behind which the Wizard just talks down to the little people from the pulpit of his own wealth.

Edited April 10, 2008 by Billy Furnett

Jason Maeda · May 6, 2008

Sorry I know this is way late but I've been busy as all hell.

I can't really compare No Country... with The Assassination..., I just thought the first was a much better film with stronger direction. As usual the Cohens' hands were clearly visible in the cinematography right from jump street, and the deliberate nature of the film (in shooting and thematically) was a pleasure to behold. I was really into all scenes that took place at the drug-deal-gone-bad location and the one scene with the dog chasing James Brolin's kid was especially beautiful. The changing light was striking and effective.

The suggestion of off screen space seemed unusually convincing for the Cohen's (it's hard to credit that to Deakins without knowing how big a role he played in all the factors needed for that to happen), but then it's been a while since I saw most of their films.

interesting comparison to Rolling Thunder someone made. Didn't Paul Schrader write that? What an awesome writer.

jm-k :ph34r:

Jonah Serfass · May 13, 2008

Finally got to watch NCFOM again last night- such inspiring cinematography...

One particular shot that stuck with me is after Anton blasts the mexicans in the hotel room and sits on the bed. The shotgun blast knocks a lamp onto the floor, motivating some haunting light shining upwards on his face that really makes Javier look evil. Genius in its simplicity.