From Walt Disney Home Entertainment:
Violence and mayhem erupt in the parched scrubland and panoramic skies of West Texas after Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) stumbles on a suitcase containing $2 million dollars at the site of drug deal gone bad. Fleeing with the money, he is stalked relentlessly by hired gun Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), an unstoppable sociopathic killer unafraid to leave a bloody trail in the wake of his cold-blooded search to recover the cash. As Moss scrambles to hang on to the money and his life, small-town sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) closes in on both men in a tautly plotted cat-and-mouse game that will keep viewers on the edge of their seats until the final credits roll.
No Country for Old Men won four Academy Awards® including Best Picture (Drama), Best Director (Joel Coen & Ethan Coen), Best Adapted Screenplay (Joel Coen & Ethan Coen) and Best Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem). It was also nominated in four other categories: Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing and Best Film Editing. The film won two Golden Globes, including Best Screenplay - Motion Picture and Best Performance by an Actor in a supporting Role, as well as Best Picture of the Year, Best Ensemble Cast and Best Adapted Screenplay from the National Board of Review and Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor from the New York Film Critics Circle. It also was named Best Picture of the Year by the Washington D.C. Film Critics, Boston Film Critics, Chicago Film Critics, Dallas- Fort Worth Film Critics Association and Southeast Film Critics Association.
No Country For Old Men Cast List
Tommy Lee Jones
Javier Bardem
Josh Brolin
Woody Harrelson
Kelly Macdonald
Garret Dillahunt
Tess Harper
Barry Corbin
Stephen Root
... Ed Tom Bell
... Anton Chigurh
... Llewelyn Moss
... Carson Wells
... Carla Jean Moss
... Wendell
... Loretta Bell
... Ellis
... Man who hires Wells
Set in West Texas in 1980, No Country For Old Men follows the fallout from a drug deal gone bad. The three main characters, Llewelyn Moss, Anton Chigurh and Sheriff Ed Tom Bell are never onscreen together in the entire film and yet they are all linked. The film is not for the faint of heart because of brief glimpses of graphic violence and gore. As is typical of many Hollywood films these days, the story is driven by morally ambiguous characters. Moss is out to do right by his wife by taking advantage of the opportunity he stumbled upon. We found ourselves rooting for Moss even as it is made clear that he was in over his head. Sheriff Bell is the moral character in the film, but he's one step behind throughout and ends up re-evaluating his life (thus the title of the film).
Essentially, the plot of No Country For Old Men is nothing new. However, the Coen Brothers' direction, the acting performances and unique elements of setting and character taken from the book do make it highly watchable. In the end it's like watching a train wreck in slow motion. You know what's coming, carnage and all, and how it's going to end, but are given time to soak in every detail and reflect on why it's happening. The Coen brothers maximize the wide open spaces of the West Texas setting to portray a bleak and lonely landscape, which is largely timeless. Though the film is set in 1980, its largely rural setting feels frozen in time, rather than a "period" film. This also leads to the film often having the feel of a Western. The Coens also use the graphic violence to a jarring effect, expecially given the film's deliberate and effective pacing.
The final piece of the puzzle is the acting. Josh Brolin holds his own as the highly independent modern cowboy Moss. Tommy Lee Jones brings his usual solid effort, here again as a Texas lawman. Even so, he's the voice of the everyman who is watching the world around him change despite his own best efforts. Javier Bardem manages to embody the sociopathic Anton Chigurh with enough humanity to give us hope that he not going to kill everyone he encounters. Chigurh is a puzzle, who operates by his own code that Bardem convinces us has some form of reason to it. We're just never quite sure what it is. The Coen brothers again manage to take a largely ordinary story and supply it with their own aesthetic to make it highly watchable. Whether we feel this film was worthy of an Academy Award, is another whole debate.
The DVD:
The dvd seems a bit rushed, considering that this is an Oscar-winning film. Nothing on the case or the extras mentions that the film was even Oscar nominated, let alone a Best Picture winner. The press release and a sticker carried the only mentions. Three featurettes, which run less than forty minutes, are included on the dvd. The first, a making of, is actually fairly interesting even though it's evident that it was made as part of marketing for the film's theatrical release. The second extra, "Working with the Coens" is a love fest where the cast and crew gush about working for the Coens. Considering the film's awards, this featurette takes on a whole new light. The last featurette is basically a pale shadow of the first featurette. Considering the film's critical profile, we would've hoped for more extras, but we expect that there will be some sort of special edition release given the film's critical profile.
No Country For Old Men DVD Extras:
- The Making of No Country For Old Men [23:15]
- Working with The Coens [8:00]
- Diary of a Country Sheriff [6:40] Buy No Country For Old Men DVD Now!
