No Country for Old Men: An Absolute Art from Transitions to Pacing
Poetry, Crime, Coen Brothers' Pacing, and 4K Criterion Collection...
My return to the Coen Brothers' deeply effective film No Country for Old Men, based on the book of the same name by the great Cormac McCarthy, reminded me how flawlessly the film is made.
From scene transitions to pacing, editing, sound design, production design, performances, and costume, No Country for Old Men defines the motion picture in the absolute artistic sense.
I also think Blood Simple, the brothers' 1984 opus, is amazing. I even published a brief post about it here.
For the Coen Brothers, pacing is everything. They maintain a distinct tempo that is both poetic and persuasive. The Coen Brothers, particularly in their dark thrillers, use a rhythm that draws you into the worlds of their characters even though they don't have as many long shots as, say, Tarkovsky or Tarr.
Well-written, realistic, and gloomy thrillers are my favorite kind of literature. I've now read McCarthy's book more than four times and watched the film more than ten times. It seems like the first time every time I read the book or see the film. The villain gets to walk away, so I believe it's mostly because of the characters and how the movie and the book defy the conventional hero vs. villain paradigm.
I mean, even in real life, if someone like Moss comes upon $2 million in the middle of nowhere, and especially if someone else is seeking the money, like Chigurh, the chances are that someone will die and his family will be put at risk.
But the film is more than that, I understand. It illustrates the difficulties we face in life, and because it is seen through the eyes of Sheriff Bell, the burden is more than simply his age; it is the graph of crime that he can't seem to fathom, and there isn't enough time to solve it. It's good vs. evil, and it appears that evil is winning. It reminds me of Cohle's remark in True Detective (season 1), "This is a world where nothing is solved."
It's important to remember that when it comes to writing a script or making a film, the hero does not always have to triumph. Sometimes we have to let the villain win.
It's been 17 years since No Country For Old Men was released, and for the first time, we'll be able to watch it in 4K this December as part of the fantastic Criterion Collection.