No Country For Old Men discussion *spoilers*

Planet-man

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At least DSF, Baxter, Langsta and myself have seen it by now, and it's certainly a movie that needs to be discussed.

First of all, I haven't been able to find anything about this anywhere else, but did anyone notice how it seemed like they went out of there way to make Chigur look like a steer? The hair, the slightly unfocused eyes, and the sunflower seeds he was chewing. No one else I know noticed it, but it has to be intentional, with the cattlegun and the story Sherrif Bell told and everything.

I don't think giving Llewellen a proper death would've hurt the movie any. That disappointed me.

Unlike some, I liked the ending, but I think it would've been more accepted all around if we'd seen Llewellen die and gotten a bit of closure from that, the remaining chunk of the film seeming just like the rambing anti-climax Bell talks about and wrapping up that way.

The last shot is one of my all-time favourites.


On a tangent, after reading Batman: Knightfall(the novelization of the whole saga by Denny O'Neill) I've really wanted Bane to appear properly and as the main villain in a Batman movie(hopefully he still will in this franchise), but I've never been able to think of an actor who'd fit the part all that well, the closest probably being Dwayne Johnson, but even he would've been meh.

Javier Bardem was born to play Bane. Hope he gets to.
 
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Chigurh was so frightening. I bet he's going to become one of the most memorable villains of cinema.

I was pretty surprised when Llewelyn died, but I don't understand who killed him - Chigurh or the Mexican rebel dudes? It's pretty obvious that the rebels did it, because they were leaving the motel place in their jeep. But then later, Bell arrives at the motel, and you see the door handle busted off. And then you see Chirgurh there. But....really all he's doing is getting his money.

Also, I thought it was a little odd that Llewelyn ended up sort of "betraying" his wife by going into that lady's motel room. He seemed devoted to getting to his wife. But I guess the whole movie's about moral choices and whatnot.

Now, as for the ending, I thought of Bell's talk about dreams to be sort of metaphorical/symbolic to what I actually perceived the film to be....I thought of the whole film as a dream. NCFOM is essentially about 2 stories, Bell's, and Chigurh/Llewelyn's. I found it odd that Bell's career was just now beginning to see some action, with Chigurh being involved. And then I realized that Bell never actually meets Chigurh, even when he returns to the motel room to examine the crime scene of Llewelyn's death. Chigurh was right there, he had his cattle gun, and he could have easily killed Bell right then and there. So I thought of the whole movie as being a dream of Bell's.

Although NCFOM got better reviews, I liked 3:10 to Yuma better.
 
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I thought it was obvious Chigurh killed him because the lock on the door was popped out, like in all his other attacks.

I'm beginning to think Chigurh wasn't actually behind the door when Bell got there, though, and Bell's eyes were just playing trick's with the reflection in the lock hole(which looked ambiguos enough to the audience too) and so he was just picturing Chigurh standing there and hearing him breath when the room was really empty.
 
The rebels, I thought, killed Llewellyn but couldn't find the money and ran. Chigurh, knowing they were headed for El Paso and hearing of the crime, went back to the scene and took the case.

Anyhow - JUST saw this movie. Just now.

I have never been so tense. Terrified from the start. Absolutely ****ing incredible. Not only that - all this done with so little dialogue. But yes - the film is incredible.

Until
Llewellyn dies off-screen. When he goes, the story goes with him, and the film meanders for 20 minutes and never collects itself. I was expecting the final scene to be Bell, Llewellyn, Chirgurh, having a brilliant gunfight in the airport. Instead... Llewellyn dies off-screen. Chirgurh limps away from a car accident, and Bell just kinda talks. The film ALMOST resuscitated itself when Bell went back to the motel and we thought he's facing down Chirgurh. He should have. The whole film has lots of off-screen shoot-outs (it begins with one) - has an AWESOME one in the middle (Llewellyn vs Chirgurh is movie ****ing history) - but then kinda cops out.

The ending of the film is controversial because it ain't what you expect. I think the ending sucks. And the reason it does is because this is based on a novel.

In the novel, this ended the exact same way - BUT - in the novel, all the disparity is gelled together by the fact that the author can tell you how it feels for the main character. The climactic core of the film is in the main character's head.

You can't photograph thought. So when the film ends the same way, that core is missing, and it seems disparate and its stupid.

Which is a shame because until the last 20 minutes, I honestly have to say that NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN is one of the most incredible films I've ever seen.

Llewellyn, Bell, and Chirgurh are amazing characters. I recommend to anyone with nerves of steel. I don't have nerves of steel and am still shaking.

I may have been robbed, the ending may have sucked, but **** it - I'd've give twice as much as they took for what they did give.

Also - the Bane thing is stolen for all future Batman dreamcasts. :wink:
 
I disagree about finding the ending of the film disapointing, but I'd need to see it again to say why...

I loved the final scenes with Chigurh (the real ending, I'd say) and the Tommy Lee Jones monologues were a satisfying epilogue to the overall themes of the movie...

I will buy it on DVD instantly.
 
Somehow I didn't see this movie till last night. ****ing incredible, I think this just kicked Raising Arizona out of their top five for me. The Coen's need to adapt Blood Meridian next.
 
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Forgot to mention - I have a friend who looks like Javier Bardem. His nose is different and his hair is wildly different... but damn if his face doesn't move the exact same way.

I'm now scared of him.
 
I've been thinking about it recently and I think that the ending may have been even more effective if Chigurgh had gotten in the car wreck BEFORE he got to Llewellen's wife's house, and then reluctantly had to bail on that and not get to fulfill his sworn plans and rituals. It works either way, but it's interesting to think about.
 
Eh. I didn't have any problems with the ending, but I expect that kind of ending going into a Coen Brothers movie.
 
Eh. I didn't have any problems with the ending, but I expect that kind of ending going into a Coen Brothers movie.

This was one of those movies where it seemed as though everyone did a great job other than the directors. It just wasn't interesting. I tried to make myself like it because of all the Oscar buzz it was getting and all of the hype it was getting around these parts, but once the Rambo-esque chase ended, the movie just wasn't interesting.
 
This was one of those movies where it seemed as though everyone did a great job other than the directors. It just wasn't interesting. I tried to make myself like it because of all the Oscar buzz it was getting and all of the hype it was getting around these parts, but once the Rambo-esque chase ended, the movie just wasn't interesting.

That's the problem a lot of people tend to have. I remember, me and my friends were watching Barton Fink (I'd already seen it, and written my college paper on it) and when it got to the end, everyone was like, "What was in the box? Was it a head?" and I was like, "I don't know. Probably? But the fact that they don't make it explicit means maybe not." and everyone was just like, "That's stupid." I think, going into a Coen Brothers film, you have to be willing to accept the futility and ambiguity that colors all of their projects. Once the story's said and done, there's rarely answers, because that's not how the world works. Instead, you just have the bits and pieces you manage to recover. Life goes on.
 
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Finally saw this and I agree with Bass - it was super intense almost beginning to end. I really liked it...except for Llewelyn's lack of a death scene and the lack of cohesion from then on out.
 

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