No Country for Old Men

The title is a quite obvious address to the influx of violence and the reality that older men who are heads of the sheriffs department and older officers are no longer capable of dealing with the incursion of the drug deals and common crimes. - Also, I am amazed at how well the Coen brothers have done to really make the movie the book, originally written by Cormac McCarthy. HIs storyline was precise and when I first watched this, and again now, I still realize how difficult it is to visualize someone else's writing and make it come to life in such a similar way that was portrayed in the book. - I find Chigurh really interesting. I don't quite know what to think of him, even though this is the second time I've personally seen the film. He isn't your ordinary psychopathic killer, he is simply attempting to beat karma although he appears to be quite ordinary. His whole personna is confusing and adds to the confusion in the storyline and the themes of destiny and chance and his attempt to alter the course of other's lives.

While watching the film, the first thing I noticed was the lack of sound. There is very little dialogue for the most part and almost no music. This really causes the viewing audience to focus on the visuals of the film and decipher them in their own unique way. The good part about this film is its use of violence. It makes up for the lack of sound and amplifies the imagination. I found the scene with the criminal and the cashier to be particularly interesting. There is a tension that has to do with fate that makes the viewers fear for the innocent cashiers life. There is no talk of death, but the inference to fate imply that if he chooses the wrong side of the coin then he will be killed since the coins entire life has been leading up to that specific moment in time and traveling to get to him.

This film is interesting to me thus far. I do not have a very provocative thought about this film thus far. With that being said, the scene with the quarter is very interesting. I was actually freaked out at this point... The line where he says it took this quarter 22 years to get to that point was very interesting. I am looking for more deep thoughts as this film progresses, I just have not seen enough yet to really jar my mind.

The movie starts with Ed saying that there is an increase in crime in the area and it immediately shows three different killings. Even with the violence it seems like the main character does have real morals. He goes to take water to the drug dealer but it goes very badly for him. After the scene showing his good morals there is a scene at what may be a gas station where the viewer assumes that the man will either be killed or robbed if the store is not open past dark showing the opposite side to the character and that he may truly be immoral.

"No Country For Old Men" seems to be a very unique movie. The lack of any sort of background music and relatively constant camera angles adds to an almost monotone-like persona of the film. Despite this, which was obviously done intentionally, the movie is still very intriguing. One scene that I felt stood out due to pure intensity was the one in which the killer stops by the gas station and speaks to the owner. The Coen Brothers did an excellent job of building an incredible amount of tension in this scene, utilizing what was shown of the merciless nature of the killer earlier on. When the coin toss is mentioned, I was completely prepared for an abrupt and startling murder of the clerk, which never occurs. This adds to the mysterious and ominous presence of the killer, and keeps the audience unable to predict his actions.

I was particularly struck by the opening scene of the movie - the hills and the country being silhouetted by the rising sun. It almost surprised me how eerie the land seemed to be. There was no sign of human activity until the shot of the power lines. The vastness of the land illustrated how easy it would be to get away with any crime because of the apparent lack of population. It was interesting how the movie began with a voice-overed monologue. It made me start to imagine the character before he was even shown on screen. The fact that his voice-over was placed with the shots of the Western scenery shows how people are defined by the location in which they live.

I was interested in Tommy Lee Jones character attempting to catch the criminal by putting himself in the same positions that criminal had been. In one instance even drinking from the same glass of milk. To me this seems as a forefront for the officer's eventual corruption.

The scene with the sheriff when he decides to go into the crime scene motel room is especially interesting. The only source of light for the inside of the room in through the busted lock. As the killer waits inside holding his gun, there is only light shining on half of his face. The door is the only thing that separates them from each other. They both look to have a fearful expression as they both hold their weapons close. It appears as though neither of them know the other is there for sure, which is why they are afraid. When he finally goes inside, the viewing audience is under the impression that he is at a disadvantage since he is in the light and will be killed. The scene is silent which adds to the intensity. When he finally looks around the entire room, the killer has fled and the sheriff is safe. This implies that he was afraid of the sheriff which gives the whole dismal tine to the movie a positive glimmer of hope.

Today's sections use of shadow was quite interesting. When Ed Tom Bell goes to the scene of the crime where Llewelyn Moss was killed by Chigurh. The shadowing where we only saw half of Chigurh's face reminds me of Schindler's List and how Oscar Schindler's face was always half hidden when he was evil. She tries to reason with Chigurh, she says "You don't have to do this", he offers to throw a coin toss for her life, but she argues that the choice is his. She argues that the coin toss wouldn't validate her death, but he would simply use it to feel better about it himself. Ed Tom Bell's dreams are also really interesting, they both relate to his father, a symbol of his love and remembrance for his deceased father. He looked up to his father with utmost respect and also slightly symbolizes that when Ed Tom goes to the afterlife, his father will be there for him.

Sugar is a very interesting character throughout the movie. He is a cold killer who seems to always be in control of the situation and is feared by many. Sugar is not really in control because the money was stolen from him and he had trouble getting it back. When he has a conversation with someone before killing them he flips a coin and asks them to call it, claiming that it is fate that kills them. He seems to want to be moral and just go with the flow of fate but he really could just not shoot the people, saving their lives and being moral.

First of all, I was intrigued by the constant use of shadow. For example, when Ed Tom Bell goes to the hotel where the crime scene was located, he watches as the shadows move through the empty doorknob space. After gathering the courage to enter the room, he steps into the shadows, where the unknown resides. What's to happen is uncertain. Will he die? Will something jump out and scare me? Although nothing exactly happens, the mystery and unknown outcomes of the scene is incredibly realistic. Also, Sugar's face is almost always in the shadow. He remains a mystery to me. I can't understand him fully, and the use of shadows constantly on his face perfectly illustrates his complexity. I also liked how the movie showed that good people are always present, even in times as violent as those. There was the old man that helped Sugar jump his car, and then the two boys on the bike that gave him a shirt to help make a tourniquet his injury from the car accident. I feel like Sugar was slightly humbled by their actions, which makes me understand that even though for the most part he seems evil, he's still human. He feels a plethora of emotions, including a reaction to sheer compassion by those oblivious to his crimes.

My thought from the last part of the movie is more so a question or an interpretation I have found with Tommy Lee Jones' last line when he is talking about his dream. I personally assume the man he sees in the dream in Sugar, the killer and the insane man in that film. What I have started to believe is that all of the movie was a dream of Tommy Lee Jones. He was a cop, but he is now retired like it says at the end of the film, but in his retirement he has hallucinations about being a cop, which is what this film is. It is a hallucination of Tommy Lee Jones'. That is what I thought after I mulled over the sudden ending. But in my mind it wasn't a sudden ending anymore, it was a perfect ending. With my assumption that the movie was all a dream, by Tommy Lee Jones explaining his dream, the ending fits the film perfectly.

I'm really intrigued by the ending of "No Country For Old Men". The more I thought about it the more I agreed with what we discussed in class, saying that the killer seems to be nearly invincible, yet continues to be cut down by events that simply happen by chance, and would have an impact on anyone. The aspect of chance also goes back to his usage of the coin. Sugar is frustrated when the man's wife he was to kill refused to let her fate be decided by a coin. This forced sugar to realize that he was in direct control of the situation. After this realization, and inevitably killing the woman, he is immediately faced with a moment of chance himself in the car accident that cannot be foreseen even by him.