No Country for Old Men: The JMC "Review"

Although it's been three days since I saw No Country for Old Men, your next Best Picture (in the way that Hillary Clinton is your next president), but I still don't know what exactly to make of it. It's basically the brilliant, mesmerizing masterpiece it's been hailed as, but -- but -- it's so side-swiping that it makes you feel as if you've melted in your seat and haven't even noticed. Words can barely describe it. There are barely any words in the picture itself! As it seems, at least. It's a very tough film fueled by very tough situations coerced by very tough characters. In theory, and put simply, this is a film not everyone would like. And yet, it's been hailed as some of the greatest American cinema in history.

It's brilliantly directed, edited and written by the Brothers Coen, but personally, the true star of the film behind-the-camera is the legendary and Oscar-less (Why do all the great ones get nothing?!??!?!) Roger Deakins, whose photography literally makes the film what it is and how much of a masterpiece it is. Oscar, please!

The acting is, as expected, almost as brilliant as the film itself, even with small gems by Woody Harrelson and the awesome Beth Grant. Josh Brolin kinda underwhelmed me, but I think that's because he makes me feel uncomfortable on a cosmic level. Tommy Lee Jones surprised the hell out of me (because I heard nothing about it) with the quiet, serene grace he put into his non-sequituring character. And B.O.B. ('boy oh boy' for you newbs) Madama Macdonald was fantastic. Carla Jean is, up until the third act, a "barely there" character, shining like a small nugget of pure gold you can see, but not physically reach. But then it suddenly grows and you start humping it, you love it so much. Why do I keep doubting people I love? If the Supp. Actress race for the Chloe wasn't as crowded and confusingly unclear was it is, I'd say she'd be in definitely, but alas.

And then there's Anton Chigurh.

Javier Bardem easily (UNDERSTATEMENT ALERT) deserves the Oscar he's going to get and finally puts some life back into the Supporting Actor category as a whole; who's gonna deny that? But I'll go further: It's possibly the greatest villainic performance I've seen. There are no compromises in his demeanor, but a weird amount of sociopathic mercy he gives his non-victims (including one that's up for debate whether or not he did or not -- you'll see what I mean). It acts as a lead a lot of the time, but he never enters into a "lead" in any way. He's not any sort of protagonist, and he's rarely the most important segment happening. The same problem (in different terms) goes for Brolin, who I have as supporting because of screentime. But for Bardem, it works completely. You never even feel a want to explore him deeper, much less a need to be audience-therapists. He's here, he's got a freakish hair cut and a compressed air gun, we get used to him. At one point, I said to my mom* "Is it weird that I think he's incredibly awesome?" to a raised eyebrow... even though she laughed to most of his murderous antics. Yeah, I'm the one that goes too far!

Our final note now: On the anti-climax. Without delving into spoiler territory -- wait, that's irrelevant, since, if I told you, it'd be like I telling you something from the middle of the second act. Oh well. It just kinda drifted into oblivion and I couldn't even tell. Almost immediately, I thought of two other films with this kind of uncomfortable un-ending: Caché and Jindabyne. All three combined deal with subjects and characters I didn't quite understand, because I wasn't French, Australian, or... Texan? IDK. What I do know is that Caché is one of only a handful of films I hate with all my being. I can't explain it; I just do. It's a C. Jindabyne is fueled by it's ensemble and it's own capability, even though I'm even less familiar with Australian culture than I probably am Haneke's techniques. It's B. No Country for Old Men has nothing like that, being a flat-out masterpiece and a work of immense genius, and all. It's an A. Definitely.

What did y'all think of it?

* -- My mom's opinion of the film was a perpetual shock that lasted, um, it's still going on. It's awesome.