Recently I rewatched the movie No Country For Old Men. I grabbed this scene from it because I liked the ominous mood it provoked in me. In this particular scene, Carson Wells (as played by Woody Harrelson) was in the foreground crossing the street, heading for his hotel in the background. I painted him out. It didn't change the uneasy mood for me. Perhaps that's because I know what happened next.
Carson Wells was a relaxed laid-back hit man kinda guy tracking the ultimate brutal unleashed sociopath, Anton Chigurh, "an emotionless, compassionless killing machine," (Javier Bardem). And this is the scene just before Wells discovered the prey he was tracking, Chigurh, had been tracking - and just found - him!
I didn't like this movie much. That's probably because it was so successful at leaving me with a very unsettled, you-can-never-relax feeling throughout. Which is a lot like life on Earth these days.
I think if they broadened the scope of No Country For Old Men today and remade it, they might rename it No Country For Old Men, Women, Children or Anybody Else. And if the old sheriff of calm, meticulous manner as portrayed by Tommy Lee Jones in the original, were to be cast in the role of reflective and reassuring president Barrack Obama in the remake, the outcome would still be the same. Extremely disturbing.
But maybe that's just me. Yet I wake up each morning with the same feeling, that I'm in the movie No Country For Old Men, Women, Children or Anybody Else. That's pretty ominous. And it's getting darker daily!
7 comments:
I hated NCFOM, mainly because I hated Javier Bardem. At least I thought I hated him until I recently saw "Love in the Time of Cholera", which I recommend if you're in the mood for a Bardem-redemption.
I will go against the grain here and say I loved the movie. I liked the scenery and the photography and where it was shot. I liked that it did not lay out all the story so even a 2nd or 3rd grader could understand it. but hey, what do I know. I am just an photographer with a degree in art.
dooty
D.K. While I've seen "LITTOC," I have serious difficulty remembering much about it, with the exception of saying, "Hey, I know that guy from somewhere!" when first seeing Javier Bardem. I don't even remember how much I liked LITTOC but I DO remember NCFOM far, far more. And, even if it made me uncomfortable, I'm thinking I actually liked NCFOM better than LITTOC (or at least was impressed with it far more).
dooty: Oh, I agree, I enjoyed the so many of the scenes and their settings in this movie. I'm a sucker for movies made in the area, i.e., desert S/W. (I discovered a recent "Watch Now" movie on Netflix filmed in Deming, NM -- can't remember the name, but enjoyed the flavor of small desert town, a single mom and her two teenaged daughters.)
But I had problems with "El Paso" in NCOM which I believe was filmed in Albuquerque and maybe the El Paso overweight, Anglo, heavily drawling Texas accented sheriff is stereotypical of sheriffs in Albuquerque or the Coen brother's minds, but that couldn't have been more wrong.
Other than that miscast role, I thought the cast of characters was great.
Actually I did like the parts of the NCfOM that you both mentioned. It was the overwhelming violence, the dread of the next scene, that made me wish I hadn't watched it. It wasn't just the violence, it was the realness of it, the rawness. Movies like The Terminator contain far more violence, but since it doesn't seem real to me, I can find them entertaining. NCfOM was all too real. I think it needed a special D.K. warning: do not keep watching if you find yourself thinking it's really happening. Most movies don't have that effect on me. They can be very good movies, but I never suspend belief that they are simply the product of directors and actors attempting to seduce the audience.
LitToC was a completely opposite type role for Bardem. His insipid lovelorn devotion was a little hard to take, but in a totally different and unmenacing way. I find him somewhat of an overpowering actor.
"NCfOM was all too real."
Isn't that the fault though of Cormac McCarthy the books author. He is well known for not "pussy footing" around thing that might not be nice for everyone to see. See the book "Blood Meridian". It is part and parcel of McCarthy's shicht.
last line should read
"Violence is part and parcel of McCarthy's schicht."
... or "schtick" as my jewish hub would say!
I think I would like the book.
Post a Comment