Nov 25, 2007

No Country For Old Men: best film of 2007

I avoided all the reviews, going in with as open a mind as I could muster, given that I'm a Coen aficionado.

This film combines the apocalyptic vision of Barton Fink or O Brother Where Art Thou? or Raising Arizona with the crime-gone-awry humor, pathos, and tension of Blood Simple and Fargo. Yet it is a darker work, largely because the villain, in one character's words, "Doesn't have a sense of humor."

This is the movie that A History of Violence tried to be, though it failed. Every element of mood, pacing, and cinematography that Cronenberg missed, the Coen brothers nail. Tommy Lee Jones' turn as a world-weary sheriff is particularly strong, his moral gravitas a necessary counterpart to Javier Bardem's methodical evil.

No Country For Old Men is the first genuine masterpiece of 2007.

A breathtaking film. I'm still gasping.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Awww...nuts.