No Country for Old Men
Academy Award × 4·National Film Registry
Rent/Purchase
Llewelyn Moss stumbles upon dead bodies, $2 million and a hoard of heroin in a Texas desert, but methodical killer Anton Chigurh comes looking for it, with local sheriff Ed Tom Bell hot on his trail. The roles of prey and predator blur as the violent pursuit of money and justice collide.
What critics thought
Nearly universally praised on release and still standing as one of the Coens' finest, the film is celebrated for its craft — editing, sound design, cinematography — and for Javier Bardem's towering performance as Anton Chigurh. A minority of critics, however, found the film's refusal to provide a conventional climax more evasive than profound, and questioned whether Chigurh ever becomes more than an emblem of menace.
“for formalists – those moviegoers sent into raptures by tight editing, nimble camera work and faultless sound design – it's pure heaven.”
A. O. Scott·The New York Times
“what makes this such a stand-out is hard to put your finger on – it just feels like an absorbing and tense two hours where everyone is absolutely on top of their job and a comfortable fit in their roles.”
Rob Mackie·The Guardian
“Chigurh never develops as a character ... with material as strong as this, one would think they could do better than impute to him a sprawling inscrutability, a mystery that is merely pathological.”
Sukhdev Sandhu·The Daily Telegraph
“It's all chase, which means that it offers almost zero in character development. Each of the figures is given, a la standard thriller operating procedure, a single moral or psychological attribute and then acts in accordance to that principle and nothing else, without doubts, contradictions or ambivalence.”
Stephen Hunter·The Washington Post
“after two decades of being brilliant on the movie margins, the Coens are ready for their closeup, and maybe their Oscar”
Richard Corliss·Time
Genres
Crime, Drama, Thriller
Cast & Crew
DirectorJoel Coen, Ethan Coen
StarringJavier Bardem, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson, Kelly Macdonald
ComposerCarter Burwell
No Country for Old Men
Academy Award × 4·National Film Registry
Llewelyn Moss stumbles upon dead bodies, $2 million and a hoard of heroin in a Texas desert, but methodical killer Anton Chigurh comes looking for it, with local sheriff Ed Tom Bell hot on his trail. The roles of prey and predator blur as the violent pursuit of money and justice collide.
What critics thought
Nearly universally praised on release and still standing as one of the Coens' finest, the film is celebrated for its craft — editing, sound design, cinematography — and for Javier Bardem's towering performance as Anton Chigurh. A minority of critics, however, found the film's refusal to provide a conventional climax more evasive than profound, and questioned whether Chigurh ever becomes more than an emblem of menace.
“for formalists – those moviegoers sent into raptures by tight editing, nimble camera work and faultless sound design – it's pure heaven.”
A. O. Scott·The New York Times
“what makes this such a stand-out is hard to put your finger on – it just feels like an absorbing and tense two hours where everyone is absolutely on top of their job and a comfortable fit in their roles.”
Rob Mackie·The Guardian
“Chigurh never develops as a character ... with material as strong as this, one would think they could do better than impute to him a sprawling inscrutability, a mystery that is merely pathological.”
Sukhdev Sandhu·The Daily Telegraph
“It's all chase, which means that it offers almost zero in character development. Each of the figures is given, a la standard thriller operating procedure, a single moral or psychological attribute and then acts in accordance to that principle and nothing else, without doubts, contradictions or ambivalence.”
Stephen Hunter·The Washington Post
“after two decades of being brilliant on the movie margins, the Coens are ready for their closeup, and maybe their Oscar”
Richard Corliss·Time
Genres
Crime, Drama, Thriller
Cast & Crew
DirectorJoel Coen, Ethan Coen
StarringJavier Bardem, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson, Kelly Macdonald
ComposerCarter Burwell
Rent/Purchase