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RE: No country for old men

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Jazz Inmate

In Reply to: RE: No country for old men posted by David Aiken on May 02, 2008 at 14:30:03

I see the film as an exploration of the three characters who represent law, lawlessness and the common man torn between the two. In that way it's another exposition on the battle between good and evil. No shortage of films about that. But this one was very unique in many ways, with good symbolism (the satchel, the transponder, the pressurized air tank that punched holes in deadbolts and skulls). Also the turns of a phrase and dialog were incredible.
The violence and its aftermath were graphic. A driver is shot from long range in the throat and forehead. The way wounds were shown was probably the most detailed I have seen in any film, and the Coen brothers did not shy away from putting their make-up artists to the test. I've never seen a gunshot wound in real life, but I was thoroughly convinced that's what I was seeing in No Country. It was definitely violent, but not gratuitously so. The Coens show what they need you to see. No more and no less.
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Call it, friendo.

Edits: 05/02/08

Follow Ups:

RE: No country for old men - David Aiken 22:47:03 05/02/08 (0)
I've only seen it once, on DVD and not in the cinema, and honestly I don't remember how the wounds looked. I simply remember the casualness of the killing. I certainly had no sense that the camera dwelt on the wounds and I certainly agree with you that the Coens show no more than they need to in order to present their vision.

Before anyone jumps on me for not seeing this in the cinema, I would have loved to but for one reason and that reason is why most of my viewing from now on is likely to be on video. In the last 18 months my eyes have started to develop cataracts, far too early for any thought of surgery and not a problem in daylight, but films seen in a cinema now look slightly blurred and out of focus to me, and colours look overly soft and muted. My LCD screen has a much brighter image and at my normal viewing distance movies look well focussed and colours can look clear and bright when that's what the film shows. If the film has a reputation for very good photography or it's a film I really want to see, I tend to wait now and watch it on video so I can appreciate the visual side of things much better. That's what I did with this film.

David Aiken

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