N is for No Country for Old Men

N is for No Country for Old Men, winner of Best Adapted Screenplay at the Academy Awards for Joel and Ethan Coen. The screenplay was based on a book by Cormac McCarthy. The film is rated R for strong graphic violence and some language.

The year is 1980. Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) is hunting antelope one day in the deserts of Texas when he happens upon a drug deal gone bad. Several bodies lay about on the ground, and the drugs are still on the flatbed of a truck underneath a tarp. Llewelyn is a good tracker having served in Vietnam. He follows the trail of a lone man who had fled the scene. He finds the now deceased man in the shade of a tree, and discovers a briefcase loaded with stacks of hundred dollar bills. Llewelyn absconds with the briefcase and the small fortune that turns out to be about two million dollars.

Thus begins a nightmarish ordeal for Llewelyn when Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), a ruthless criminal who wants that money back, stalks him. The good sheriff Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) becomes aware of what is happening, as does Carson Wells (Woody Harrelson), hired by the investor who is upset about the loss of the briefcase of money. With three people in pursuit of him, Llewelyn has to outsmart all of them. Or will he?

No Country for Old Men was primarily filmed on location in New Mexico, with some filming completed in West Texas. The dry sandy desert blows dust into every corner, and into the souls of those who inhabit this tale of greed and murder. It’s a bloody film, one where the Coen brothers seem to again be asking, “Why would you do this for money?” (Recall my review for F this month with Fargo.)

No Country for Old Men won three additional Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor for Javier Bardem, and Best Director for the Coen brothers.

Watching Llewelyn calmly plan how to keep the money for himself and methodically carry out his strategy for survival is really fascinating, as is Anton’s chilling persona as a man who likes to play a game of chance with his victims before offing them. The Coen brothers have set just the right pace for the men’s journeys that will eventually collide. We are with Llewelyn as he problem solves every step of his path. Josh Brolin does a really fine acting job with Llewelyn, and Javier Bardem as Anton is so cold and calculating, we won’t ever forget him as a man who has no heart.

Tommy Lee Jones plays the sheriff well, the man who has worked for many years in law enforcement, and is growing a little too old to stomach the blood and crime that seem everywhere within his jurisdiction. No Country for Old Men is a well-written and executed film, and you may find it to be a good film to watch if you can stand the blood. 

No Country for Old Men - Official Trailer