Topic: No Country for Old Men

[Stogi]

OOOHHH

Miller's crossing.....I wanted to see that ever since my Film Lit teacher showed us the opening scene.

[Ian Sane]

I saw No Country for Old Men last night with my family.  The film is so intense that at one point I put my coat on because my hands were shaking.  Anton Chigurh is such a frightening villian that every time he's on screen with someone you're afraid he'll kill them.  And in scenes where he's alone you hope that no other person walks on screen, for their sake.

Regarding the ending (and these are really big spoilers here)
My brother summed it up reasonably well - "that movie was perfect until they killed Moss.  The ending sucked."  I looked it up and the ending is apparently very faithful to the book so I won't crap on the Coens for that.  But the ending is probably the most disappointing for such a good film I've ever seen.  It's not that Chigurh lives and seems to get away with everything that's the problem but rather that the loose ends aren't tied up and early foreshadowing goes nowhere.  I've heard people praise the story for not having a cliche ending but if I want just a bunch of stuff to happen without a satisfying conclusion I've got real life, thanks.  The reason I like fiction is the annoying BS that ruins a good real life story doesn't have to happen unless the writer chooses to.  The whole film is building up to a Chigurh-Moss showdown and you're just rooting for Moss to SOMEHOW survive.  Not only does he die but it isn't at Chigurh's hands and it's like three quarters through the movie and it's offscreen.  LAME.  Moss tells Chigurh on the phone "you're my project" or something like that.  Why?  Why tease the audience (or reader I guess since this is probably all the author's fault) with an exciting showdown and not deliver?  I wouldn't even care if Moss set up a big trap but Chigurh still managed to kill him anyway.  At least that's still a payoff.  No Country for Old Men is the first 75% of a intense thriller/action film that almost feels like a horror movie that ultimately f*cks over the audience and turns into Tommy Lee Jones whining about getting old.  I'll probably never see it again because seeing those intense scenes with Chigurh hunting Moss won't have the same impact when I know it all amounts to nothing.

[ShyGuy]

Bump from a Captive Bolt Pneumatic gun!

Finally watched this. Great villian. Bleak ending. Movie of the Year? ...I don't know.

[Dasmos]

Movie of the year was There Will Be Blood.

[IceCold]

No.

[Pale]

I watched this yesterday.

I thought it was pretty much crap.  Lamest ending ever.

[Svevan]

I hate you.

[vudu]

I watched it a few weeks ago.  I really liked it.  But There Will Be Blood was better.

[Ian Sane]

I watched it a few weeks ago.  I really liked it.  But There Will Be Blood was better.

There Will Be Blood had a weirdo "what the hell just happened" ending as well.  Is this like a new trend?  Those were the only best picture nominees I saw last year.  Did all the others have endings like that too?

Though I will likely see There Will Be Blood again at some point so I guess I could consider it the better film.  The ending, while odd, didn't completely ruin the entire film for me like No Country For Old Men did.

If I was to split those movies into four parts No Country would get perfect 10s for every part but the last which would get 0.  Blood would get 8's and 9's for the first three parts and about a 6 for the last.  So what makes for a better film?  Does No Country's perfect first three quarters matter when it completely fails at the end?

[vudu]

The ending both both movies were great.

NCFOM didn't wrap everything up in a neat package, and it lost points for that with a lot of people, but I really liked it.  It wasn't immediately satisfying, but it leaves a lot of interpretation for the viewer.  Tommy Lee Jones' descriptions of his dreams gave the movie enough closure in my mind.

The ending for TWBB was equally as awesome.  You could see Plainview's eccentric tendencies snowballing during the entire film, especially the last third.  He is a man who is very protective of his appearance.  He banished his "son" when he becomes an embarrassment, and only takes him back once his sending him away becomes more of an embarrassment.  Plainview's attack on Eli was in part a retaliation for the embarrassment that happened in the church many years prior.

[Ian Sane]

NCFOM didn't wrap everything up in a neat package, and it lost points for that with a lot of people

That probably was what most people didn't like but for me it was the fact that they lied to me.  They more or less promised a Moss/Chigurh showdown and didn't deliver.  They could have kept everything else the same and I would have thought it was the best film I ever saw if they had Moss die on screen at Chigurh's hands.  Or Moss and him meet up one last time and Moss appears to escape but then gets killed by the Mexicans.  That would have been a bummer for Moss but at least something happens then.  I don't care if the bad guys win.  I don't care if the film ends with Tommy Lee Jones being a whiney old geezer.  All I care about is the screwjob bait-and-switch.

No Country is like if Rocky didn't even get to fight Apollo.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I found TWBB's ending to be hilarious and so over the top that i didn't care about what the ending was about. Then again I felt the same thing about the whole movie.

[Dasmos]

I watched it a few weeks ago.  I really liked it.  But There Will Be Blood was better.

Yes.

I found TWBB's ending to be hilarious and so over the top that i didn't care about what the ending was about. Then again I felt the same thing about the whole movie.

Oh? I don't get this.

[IceCold]

There Will Be Blood is one of those films where I can see that in nearly all technical aspects it's an amazing movie.. but the characters were so repulsive, the outlook on life so depressing and even the humour so malevolent that I had a terrible taste in my mouth afterwards. It may have been what the director was going for, but I won't watch it again.

[Svevan]

They more or less promised a Moss/Chigurh showdown and didn't deliver.

Ian, this is your vital misreading of the film, and the reason the ending will never work for you.

[Ian Sane]

Ian, this is your vital misreading of the film, and the reason the ending will never work for you.

I see more as the film makers mistelling the story.  They focus a lot on the plot of Llewelyn Moss stumbling onto the aftermath of a drug bust gone wrong and then trying to get away with a large amount of drug money while being hunted down by a psycho sent to get the money back.  In the end though they reveal that the film is more about an old sheriff retiring and how this last case for him is very disturbing and bothers him.  The problem is that that character doesn't get much screen time until Moss dies.  His only appearances are directly related to him following the case.  Otherwise the film presents itself as if it's Moss's story.  Until suddenly they screw 99% of the audience.  Surprise!  This spine-tingling thriller that has kept you on the edge of your seat the whole time is actually an artsy fartsy movie that will leave most of you unsatisfied!  Thanks for the money, suckers!

[GoldenPhoenix]

Ian, this is your vital misreading of the film, and the reason the ending will never work for you.

I see more as the film makers mistelling the story.  They focus a lot on the plot of Llewelyn Moss stumbling onto the aftermath of a drug bust gone wrong and then trying to get away with a large amount of drug money while being hunted down by a psycho sent to get the money back.  In the end though they reveal that the film is more about an old sheriff retiring and how this last case for him is very disturbing and bothers him.  The problem is that that character doesn't get much screen time until Moss dies.  His only appearances are directly related to him following the case.  Otherwise the film presents itself as if it's Moss's story.  Until suddenly they screw 99% of the audience.  Surprise!  This spine-tingling thriller that has kept you on the edge of your seat the whole time is actually an artsy fartsy movie that will leave most of you unsatisfied!  Thanks for the money, suckers!

Good point Ian. I've heard the film described as more of an "outsiders" perspective of things. In many ways the film appears to have focused too much on the "artistic" merits forgetting other components that also make up a complete movie. There is something to said, at least IMO, to balance "artistic" or "unique" aspects of a movie with cohesion that will make a viewer feel entertained in the end. I don't mind open ended endings, but this movie felt like it just died at the end and I felt like it had no real point when all things were said and done. It may be that the book just didn't translate well to film, I dunno (I may check out the book). The film had some great elements to it but I feel it didn't quite pull them together (Heck I wasn't even sure of the main Protagonist's fate because it took too much of an outsiders look).