anyone else have trouble warming to "No Country for Old Men"

Boy, this film is a tough one to dissent about. Let's face it, it's just not cool in any quarter not to love this movie. But the unrelenting, unexplained, improbably sadistic MO of the creature (not exactly a character, any more than Michael Meyers is a character) who drives the Coen Brothers film just alienated me in extreme and totally left me disconnected from all the accolades. The film's combo of bleak terrain, nihilstic behavior and drily humorous homespun tweaks at every bloody turn just feels too cynical for even these dark times. I saw a lot of talent, wit, and technical brilliance in service of something neither tragic nor in any way illuminating. From the minute the Brolin character wanders into a grand guignol-esque crime scene in the desert and behaves as no human being in my experience would ever behave ... I knew I was going to resist the film's cold-blooded pull. If the whole point of the film is to burrow deep inside the Tommy Lee Jones character's traumatized pov about the violent nature of our culture ... then why the hell do we sit there laughing our heads off at Badem's murderous antics? Watching him measure human life in a coin toss is just sooooo chic, isn't it? And more often than not have to execute the poor gambler? Oooh, what dramatic irony, what a fable for our times. Count me out.

And take me back to OH BROTHER.

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Updated On: 1/8/08 at 11:46 AM

I haven't warmed to a Coen Brothers film since RAISING ARIZONA. There's just nothing about NO COUNTRY that interests me at all, except the nearly unanimous raves it has gotten. Of course, these same raves were given to over-rated drivel like MILLION DOLLAR BABY.

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Namo, when I first worded this thread, in the subject I just said "Old Men," and of course, plenty of people have trouble warming to old men. A rather different topic.

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loved it.

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I loved No Country.

(and atonement)

I was talking about the movie, Auggie! Honest! I have no trouble dragging myself to old men in real life, just ask my dating pool.

I meant the movie. And jrb's exactly right, the current slate of sociopathic killer movies is a direct reflection of the times we live in, which I already feel bad enough about without going to the movies.

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I wanted to see it Auggie, it just came out when I was completely broke.

Yeah, it was the year of Tommy Lee Jones and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. They're in 2/3 of the movies.

I hope Tommy Lee gets a nomination for one of his pictures, but his performance in Elah was particularly nuanced and heartbreaking. When it's on DVD, perhaps it will finally find a bigger pool of admirers.

Jones is an actor you never catch ... acting. So he's sometimes ignored. It's wonderful to see an actor his age still finding dimensional roles (his was the best written in NO COUNTRY, in my opinion) that employ his greatness.

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I like subtle things. However, I thought the end of the movie was too subtle to appreciate. I liked the rest of the movie though.

Even the trailer had me checking my watch.

Add me to that group, Besty.

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I disagree. That movie was hypnotic and awesome. I can't wait to watch it over and over.

I just got my SAG screener in the mail! Can't wait to watch it! (Bestie: How do you feel about watching it in the comfort of your own home?)

I found that you really did have sort of an entry with every character that wasn't Anton Chigurh. Everyone is completely puzzled and aghast at the incredible amount of evil in the world, personified by Anton Chigurh.