I saw No Country for Old Men for the first time on Wednesday and I loved it. The Coen Brothers did an excellent job with this movie, especially since it feels completely different than “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”, which is the only other movie of theirs I’ve seen thus far. I enjoyed both movies but this one is my favorite.
No Country for Old Men follows several characters (protagonists and antagonists alike) as they try to get hold of a briefcase full of money, outwit each other, and simply survive the harsh world in which they live. The movie does an excellent job making me feel like I was in the same world of trouble as the characters. Several of my favorite movies have that quality and whenever a movie accomplishes that, I always enjoy watching it. However, I’m glad to not actually be in their world as the conventional formula in which the good guys beat the bad guys and live happily ever after is absent from this movie. The deaths in No Country for Old Men happen to characters who are positive, negative, and neutral; much like life, decisions are made and events occur that don’t always lead to satisfying conclusions or even have clear explanations. Except for a few clips I had seen before watching the movie, I had no idea where it was going, so I stayed invested in the story from beginning to end.
Unlike most movies I’ve seen, this one contains almost no music. Scenes that would normally contain a moving score instead play out in near-silence, with sound effects and dialogue providing the only sound for most of the movie. This adds to the realism of the movie and makes suspenseful moments even more intense. It’s a nice change of pace and shows that music isn’t always necessary to convey the emotion of a scene; the actors, sounds, and editing are more than sufficient to make each scene come alive.
No Country for Old Men definitely earned its R rating and plenty of people will be put off by the violence and language it contains. However, if you are a fan of the Coen Brothers and haven’t yet seen this movie but are interested in it based on this review, I recommend checking it out. This has quickly become one of my favorite movies and I’m sure I’ll be coming back to it time after time.