Author Topic: No Country For Old Men - has anybody seen it?  (Read 5198 times)

mvansand76

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No Country For Old Men - has anybody seen it?
« on: February 17, 2008, 03:07:10 pm »
If so, can we discuss it?

 :)



SPOILERS---




I have very mixed feelings towards this film. The first two-thirds were absolutely brilliant. Then Moss was killed and I just completely lost what this movie was about. The ending had me baffled. I wonder why the Coen brothers decided on such an ending.  :-\


Offline David In Indy

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Re: No Country For Old Men - has anybody seen it?
« Reply #1 on: February 17, 2008, 06:42:58 pm »
I have not seen this movie yet. Is it out on DVD already?
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Offline Artiste

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Re: No Country For Old Men - has anybody seen it?
« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2008, 07:03:48 pm »
One quote about it:

Quote
Synopsis:
With NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, the Coen Brothers have found a perfect match in Pulitzer Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy. Their adaptation of McCarthy's praised novel is a staggering masterpiece. In this almost impossibly faithful adaptation, the film takes place in a small Texas border... [More]
With NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, the Coen Brothers have found a perfect match in Pulitzer Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy. Their adaptation of McCarthy's praised novel is a staggering masterpiece. In this almost impossibly faithful adaptation, the film takes place in a small Texas border town in 1980. Sheriff Bell (a never-been-better Tommy Lee Jones) has ruled the land for years without the use of a gun, but a new brand of reckless lawlessness has taken over his town. Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) is an innocent Everyman with a devoted wife, Carla Jean (Kelly Macdonald), but when he stumbles across a drug deal gone deadly and finds two million dollars, he's determined to keep it for himself. There's only one problem. He's being pursued by one of the most amoral, evil psychopaths that the big screen has ever seen. Wearing an absurd haircut and brandishing a pressurized weapon that's used to murder cattle, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) creeps forward on his mission to track Moss down and return the money to its rightful owners to save his own skin. As the tension mounts, the body count begins to rise, confirming Sheriff Bell's inability to battle this new wave of modern brutality. The most striking thing about the Coen Brothers' thriller is their masterly use of silence to create an almost unbearable level of tension. Cinematographer Roger Deakins is once again at the top of his game, beautifully capturing this stark and lonely world. The well-rounded cast is clearly excited to be a part of such a stellar production--particularly Bardem, whose Chigurh is a freakishly mysterious monster, and is certain to haunt viewers long after the final credit has rolled. In a career filled with striking achievements, this might very well be the Coen Brothers' finest. It is filmmaking at its best

...............

But that lawman is not able to help as he is overwhelmed? No law anyomore?
Is that to-day's society becoming like that?

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Offline opinionista

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Re: No Country For Old Men - has anybody seen it?
« Reply #3 on: February 17, 2008, 08:44:26 pm »
SPOILERS






If so, can we discuss it?

 :)

SPOILERS---
I have very mixed feelings towards this film. The first two-thirds were absolutely brilliant. Then Moss was killed and I just completely lost what this movie was about. The ending had me baffled. I wonder why the Coen brothers decided on such an ending.  :-\

I think the movie speaks about the lack of meaning in violence. It begins with the search of some money, that gets lost and ends in nothing. IMO that message was conveyed twice: first at the scene when Javier Bardem's character goes to kill Moss's wife. What was the point? He would not get the money out of killing her, he would not find anything about her husband because he was dead and Anton knew it, and there was no way she could testify against him because she didn't know who he was. He was crazy, he had to kill her because he gave his word, period. No motive, no meaning, nothing. The second time was Ed Tom's (Tommy Lee Jones) rambiling about the two dreams, that meant absolutely nothing. The story of Llewelyn and Anton was like the dreams the sheriff had. It meant nothing in the end. The whole ordeal was absurd even Javier Bardem's haircut and looks, and Llewelyn's motives in keeping the money.
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement. -Mark Twain.

Offline Artiste

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Re: No Country For Old Men - has anybody seen it?
« Reply #4 on: February 18, 2008, 12:07:20 am »
To me, it is about that law is being overtaken by criminals!!

What do you think?

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Offline "Joseph Golden"

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Re: No Country For Old Men - has anybody seen it?
« Reply #5 on: February 18, 2008, 12:29:34 am »
I read the book, seen the movie just before i finished the book. And finished the book not long ago.

I loved both. The film is majestically and brutally beautiful. The story is heartbreaking and amazing.

The movie has a lot of themes. I'll discuss some of which i know and think....

Freedom - The entire story is based around Texas. Where it is secluded and desalted. Open spaces - full of freedom. Each character is searching for it's own piece of this.
Moss - Finding the money makes him think, wow i live in a trailer and i have nothing. With this i can get the freedom i want. So he takes it. gets his wife to safety. Goes across the state looking to get away from whom is chasing hm. He wants his freedom. To get away form the maniac, to get away from poverty, to get away from the law. From himself...

Carla Jean - She in search of her own freedom, but not in the kind Moss wants. He wants to get away from the life they had. She wanted to get back what they had. She wanted everything to be the way it was. She was happy. There was no greed in her. She represented peace. When he asks her to about the coin. She says no cause unlike people on death row. She has free will. Free will to chose her own destiny. even if it was largely chose for her.

Bell (Sheriff) - he became a law enforcement officer not to hold the world or law in his hands. But to gain the respect from those he considered above him. His family. He sees the world changing into something so much worse than it is. He searches for this moss knowing that all he wants is the freedom to gt out of the world his in. He sees that common ground. The sheriff wants freedom, so he can understand just a little whats happening....

Anyways, i suppose that's just one theme. There are so many others.

But to me the film was great....
Don’t lie, don’t try to fool me, Ennis. I know what it means. Jack Twist? Jack Nasty.

Offline Artiste

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Re: No Country For Old Men - has anybody seen it?
« Reply #6 on: February 18, 2008, 12:33:28 am »
Violence dominates!

Criminals overtake laws!

Where is peace, freedom??


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Offline "Joseph Golden"

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Re: No Country For Old Men - has anybody seen it?
« Reply #7 on: February 18, 2008, 12:44:57 am »
Violence dominates! - Yes, that is only succeeded in freedom, It is a human trait to resort to violence. We have all at least thought about it? We just aint free enough in our minds or heats to take it. This character is? He represents apart of us we all turn a blind eye to. His our anger, our hate, our violence. And in some it dominates?

Criminals overtake laws! - Yes, again they have the freedom to overtake what is predetermined. The law? How many characters are above the law? How many are below? How many follow? How many dont?

Where is peace, freedom?? - That's the point, Peace and Freedom is an illusion? Is there even a difference between peace and freedom?
Don’t lie, don’t try to fool me, Ennis. I know what it means. Jack Twist? Jack Nasty.

Offline serious crayons

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Re: No Country For Old Men - has anybody seen it?
« Reply #8 on: February 18, 2008, 11:58:09 am »
My interpretation was that the movie was about chance. It was about the capriciousness and randomness of death and fate. That's why Chigurh kept asking people to flip a coin. And was it the wife who asked how he got there and he said "same way the coin got here" or something like that? He killed just about anyone who happened, through sheer chance, to cross his path.

And that's how death is, really. Most movies portray death as something that happens to people who aren't smart and gutsy enough to evade it. Whether it's zombies or a shipwreck or aliens or a maniac or war ... the heroes through their wits and courage generally find some way to save themselves.

But in real life, that's not how death works. People die in war and natural disasters often because they were unlucky enough to have been in a particular place at a particular time. Plenty of smart and brave people got swept away by the tsunami or killed in terrorist attacks or shot by snipers and so on and were dead. There was no chance to use their wits and courage.

So that's what I see NCFOM being about. Chigurh is death, killing people by chance. And in the end even he himself is effected by the randomness of fate when he gets hit by a car.


Offline opinionista

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Re: No Country For Old Men - has anybody seen it?
« Reply #9 on: February 18, 2008, 12:10:12 pm »
My interpretation was that the movie was about chance. It was about the capriciousness and randomness of death and fate. That's why Chigurh kept asking people to flip a coin. And was it the wife who asked how he got there and he said "same way the coin got here" or something like that? He killed just about anyone who happened, through sheer chance, to cross his path.

And that's how death is, really. Most movies portray death as something that happens to people who aren't smart and gutsy enough to evade it. Whether it's zombies or a shipwreck or aliens or a maniac or war ... the heroes through their wits and courage generally find some way to save themselves.

But in real life, that's not how death works. People die in war and natural disasters often because they were unlucky enough to have been in a particular place at a particular time. Plenty of smart and brave people got swept away by the tsunami or killed in terrorist attacks or shot by snipers and so on and were dead. There was no chance to use their wits and courage.

So that's what I see NCFOM being about. Chigurh is death, killing people by chance. And in the end even he himself is effected by the randomness of fate when he gets hit by a car.

To me Chigurgh represents violence not just death. Everything he does is violent. He forgives the boys lives at the end of the movie because he was out in the open, and an ambulance was already called. Otherwise he probably would've killed them.
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement. -Mark Twain.

Offline "Joseph Golden"

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Re: No Country For Old Men - has anybody seen it?
« Reply #10 on: February 18, 2008, 12:22:55 pm »
Yes, I agree with you in a way, there is a great deal of chance in the film. And many if not all were effected by it's uncontrollable ways.

But there is a logical contradiction in what you said.

Chigurh (Pronounced - Sugar) killed almost everyone in his path. But in some instances he left fate up to a coin toss. There were two. One at the service station and one with Carla Jean.
But chance is taken away when Chigurh tosses the coin. You see, the whole coin toss is chance. but there wouldn't be a coin toss if it wasn't up to Chigurh. So technically his putting the fate in his hands. He takes away that randomness.

Bell, Llwellyn and Carla Jean all chose there fates. not so much Carla Jean. That was left up to others. But Llewellyn chose to take the money, keep it and not get help from certain counterparts.
Bell was doing his job as sheriff.
Carla Jean tried to take fate in her hands, but was to late.

Chance as a theme in this movie is subtle and arguable.

If there's Fate, there's not chance, right?
Don’t lie, don’t try to fool me, Ennis. I know what it means. Jack Twist? Jack Nasty.

Offline Artiste

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Re: No Country For Old Men - has anybody seen it?
« Reply #11 on: February 18, 2008, 12:31:07 pm »
Well said, well written!!

This puzzles me:
Quote
  Where is peace, freedom?? - That's the point, Peace and Freedom is an illusion? Is there even a difference between peace and freedom? 
 
 
 

.....

May I say: ????????????????????

What is your point of view or experiences  about that??

And all of you too can tell??

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Offline "Joseph Golden"

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Re: No Country For Old Men - has anybody seen it?
« Reply #12 on: February 18, 2008, 01:13:42 pm »
Where is peace, freedom?? - That's the point, Peace and Freedom is an illusion?

Definition of Peace - Freedom from quarrels and disagreement; harmonious relations

All the characters have deluded themselves with the idea that what they seek will bring them peace. Moss, having the money to have a better life. Bell, To understand just a little what it is in the world that makes such evil. Chigurh, to have what was taken from him.

All of these motive's is under the assumption that it will bring them peace. But in the whole spectrum of things. There search for peace brings some to there destruction. Others to not understanding the world anymore than what they did when they started. They have blindfolding themselves and allowed themselves to be deluded....

Definition of Freedom -  the condition of being free; the power to act or speak or think without externally imposed restraints

All these characters want to be free from something, Whether, there old lives, the law, the restraints of communities. They all share the common goal of wanting freedom. Some take it by the balls.
Again they are only deluded.

Yes, In my opinion, there is no peace, no freedom. We only delude ourselves to thinking we have it. Can anyone ever actually say that they are Free from quarrels and disagreement; harmonious relations? Or do we ever have  the power to act or speak or think without externally imposed restraints?

No, i dont think this can be fulfilled. This is something we are either/and or Eluded to believe we can or eluding ourselves.

Is there even a difference between peace and freedom?

No, there really isn't. We must be free from "something" to have peace. And we must have "peace" to be free.

As soon as we all realise that we have been deluding or deluded. Than and only than can one be free......



 
Don’t lie, don’t try to fool me, Ennis. I know what it means. Jack Twist? Jack Nasty.

Offline Artiste

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Re: No Country For Old Men - has anybody seen it?
« Reply #13 on: February 19, 2008, 12:14:30 am »
Interesting melb_boy!

Thanks!

But how can you have peace when you murder, rob... are violent??

Film is so violent!!

HUGS!

Offline "Joseph Golden"

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Re: No Country For Old Men - has anybody seen it?
« Reply #14 on: February 19, 2008, 01:28:50 am »
But how can you have peace when you murder, rob... are violent??

It's the freedom to be able to those things that brings him peace. Out of all the characters, Chuigh, was the freest, therefore at peace, than any of the characters.

He was free from the law, even when he was captured. He was able to free himself. He was mentally able to bring himself to violently and coldly kill people. He was at peace in his mind with god. (If that is what he thought existed) He was free from his conscience, from coincidences, from justice. This character is something that is envying.
Take away the murdering and violence part. But how good would it feel to be that free, To have not conscience, to have no coincidences, to be at peace.......
I personally envy this character, for five minutes I'd love to be able to get away from the vices that stop me from being at peace and free.

The murdering and violence part is just the way he goes to getting it. But lets compare what his got to those who have tried.

Into The Wild - This chracter hates the idea of conformity's that he frees himself and goes off looking for his own peace. Which he believes is in Alaska, But when he gets there, it's not the freedom that he desired. Instead it turned against him and there brought loneliness.

Brokeback Mountain - Jack and Ennis are so in love, they are so happy around each other, they need each other so much. But cause of societies in Morales and intolerance of there certain freedom they can't have it. Ennis fears it. Jack yearns for it. They both want this peace and freedom. But it's Jack that only wants to fight for it. He tries endlessly to bring Ennis along on the ride. But when twenty years has passed, he goes else where fr it. And it's in his search that makes brings him to his demise.

As you can see in these examples you can see that they are all in search for there peace and freedom.

But it's in No Country For Old Men, we see a character that has what everyone desires. And what is he? It makes you wonder what the search leads you to? If you really want it? What does it make this men?
If we compared a Chuirgh to a character in Brokeback Mountain. He is cold, manipulative, vengeful and Free......

What character pops in you mind from Brokeback Mountain?

Glad you enjoying my philosophies....  ;D
Don’t lie, don’t try to fool me, Ennis. I know what it means. Jack Twist? Jack Nasty.

Offline Artiste

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Re: No Country For Old Men - has anybody seen it?
« Reply #15 on: February 19, 2008, 11:17:16 pm »
Thanks!

Quote
Brokeback Mountain - Jack and Ennis are so in love, they are so happy around each other, they need each other so much. But cause of societies in Morales and intolerance of there certain freedom they can't have it. Ennis fears it. Jack yearns for it. They both want this peace and freedom. But it's Jack that only wants to fight for it. He tries endlessly to bring Ennis along on the ride. But when twenty years has passed, he goes else where fr it. And it's in his search that makes brings him to his demise.

 

..

At least neither Ennis nor Jack murdered someone to be FREE!! Right??

Hugs!!

Offline "Joseph Golden"

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Re: No Country For Old Men - has anybody seen it?
« Reply #16 on: February 19, 2008, 11:54:23 pm »
At least neither Ennis nor Jack murdered someone to be FREE!! Right??

Yes, Ennis and Jack did not go to those levels to achieve there freedom. But in contrast to NCFOM do you think they would have gone to those levels to achieve it? I could see Jack whipping babies as he said. So maybe, instead of looking at a film like NCFOM likes a violent holocaust. Rather as a expression of how far people can nad could go. Do i believe Jack would have murdered someone t o have Ennis. YES.

I think people need to stop thinking about how violent the film is, (I'm not deluded, i know it's violent) But the movies more of a expression of mankind and what we as humans are capable of. The desperation to seek and fight for the things we value. Yes it was about money. But what f it was his son. Or it was someone he loved.

Anyway, personally, i love the film. I'm going to see again on Friday. If you hire or buy it on DVD anytime in the future. Watch it from a different perspective and i'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as i did.

 ;D ;D ;D

Don’t lie, don’t try to fool me, Ennis. I know what it means. Jack Twist? Jack Nasty.

Offline Artiste

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Re: No Country For Old Men - has anybody seen it?
« Reply #17 on: February 20, 2008, 12:00:04 am »
Wow!

Quote
Do i believe Jack would have murdered someone t o have Ennis. YES.
 

Really?
Why do you say that?

Hugs!!

Offline "Joseph Golden"

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Re: No Country For Old Men - has anybody seen it?
« Reply #18 on: February 20, 2008, 12:11:47 am »
Remember when they were sitting on the chairs before they had that fight. In the book Jack turns to him and says sometimes i miss you so hard i could whip babies. Now i know it's a figure of speech. But do you believe him when he says it?

That's showing us his desperation for Ennis.

I know it would never come to Jack having to murder someone. But if all he had to do was murder one of the homophobes in the world to get what he wants. Sure he would.

After all they killed him for there Freedom and Peace.
Don’t lie, don’t try to fool me, Ennis. I know what it means. Jack Twist? Jack Nasty.