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Author Topic: No Country for Old Men  (Read 48722 times)

dootdootmeeep

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Re: No Country for Old Men
« Reply #80 on: December 30, 2007, 10:44:19 AM »
what was the blog they talked about in the top 10 roundtable?  It was the one that built up a case against No Country?  I believe Adam said he would have to check it out.

sdedalus

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Re: No Country for Old Men
« Reply #81 on: December 30, 2007, 03:33:31 PM »
Dave Kehr is a former critic for (I believe) The Chicago Reader and the current DVD critic for the New York Times.

The entry in question from his blog can be found here.
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skjerva

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Re: No Country for Old Men
« Reply #82 on: December 30, 2007, 04:01:09 PM »
That Kehr bit nicely sums up my unimpressedness with the Bros
But I wish the public could, in the midst of its pleasures, see how blatantly it is being spoon-fed, and ask for slightly better dreams. 
                        - Iris Barry from "The Public's Pleasure" (1926)

sdedalus

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Re: No Country for Old Men
« Reply #83 on: December 30, 2007, 04:04:23 PM »
Yeah?  I think he's full of CINECAST.
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Adam

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Re: No Country for Old Men
« Reply #84 on: December 30, 2007, 04:14:05 PM »
I feel like there were some unanswered questions earlier in the thread that I may have some closure on for folks...

The Mexicans find and kill Llewellyn--they got the info they needed from Carla Jean. Sheriff Bell pulls up as that bloodbath resolves itself. There was no Llewellyn v. Chigurh showdown at all. The cops do their thing with the scene, secure it and leave. Chigurh shows up, blows the lock out and recovers the cash--and the sheriff swings by because he knows Chigurh is willing to visit crime scenes (a fact alluded to by the other lawman). Chigurh is in the closet. Bell doesn't see him, and honestly--doesn't look that hard--he's retiring for sure--this whole thing was too much.

I'm in the camp that Anton Chigurh is not The Grim Reaper--he's just some sociopath; but he certainly represents malevolence in the world. That's why there's no closure with him Of course he gets away--it doesn't matter how many lawmen there are and how they keep handing off the torch of responsibility one to the next--bad things will happen. Anton Chigurh is Bad Things.

Carson Wells (Woody Harrelson's character) is there to show that Anton is not about the money. Carson is about the money. Chigurh is like the plague, and Carson--a Bad Guy by any reckoning thinks that Anton is a Bad Guy. Carson is part of this analogy:  Regular People:Carson::Carson:Anton. That's what I got from that character--it's to cement the utter inhumanity of Anton. Which is again hammered home in Carla Jean's final scene when Anton points out that the coin got there the same way he did. Killing Carla Jean means as much to the coin as it does to Anton. There's no humanity to appeal to in that coin, just as there is none in Anton.

This is going on my all-time list. Amazing film.

Was anyone really suggesting there was a Chigurh-Moss showdown? I don't think anyone would argue Chigurh 'is' the grim reaper. I mean, he's flesh and blood. But he's certainly 'like' the grim reaper. He's of no real origin that we can discern. He shows up, takes your life and that's about it. I don't think we're disagreeing about this though. I will say that I prefer a more grim reaper type reading of the hotel room scene with Bell at the end. I don't believe Chigurh would hide in a closet. Josh Brolin told me, at least in his mind, it's definitely up for interpretation whether Chigurh is really 'there.' I don't know whether the Coens slipped him some insight or not.
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roujin

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Re: No Country for Old Men
« Reply #85 on: December 30, 2007, 04:19:59 PM »
Dave Kehr is a former critic for (I believe) The Chicago Reader and the current DVD critic for the New York Times.

The entry in question from his blog can be found here.

His take on the strangling scene is pretty ridiculous.

skjerva

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Re: No Country for Old Men
« Reply #86 on: December 30, 2007, 04:24:09 PM »
Dave Kehr is a former critic for (I believe) The Chicago Reader and the current DVD critic for the New York Times.

The entry in question from his blog can be found here.

His take on the strangling scene is pretty ridiculous.

No, it is perfect.
But I wish the public could, in the midst of its pleasures, see how blatantly it is being spoon-fed, and ask for slightly better dreams. 
                        - Iris Barry from "The Public's Pleasure" (1926)

philip918

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Re: No Country for Old Men
« Reply #87 on: December 30, 2007, 11:13:39 PM »
That entire article is pretty ridiculous.  I'm really looking forward to There Will Be Blood, but the other three films he mentions - Michael Clayton, Beowulf and Sweeny Todd were three of the most disappointing films of the year, so I'd have to say my tastes are quite different from his.
Seriously, condescension via linoleum?  Come on.

skjerva

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Re: No Country for Old Men
« Reply #88 on: December 30, 2007, 11:25:46 PM »
Yeah, I also really liked everything he wrote.  I thought his example of Jones' Sheriff "laughing it off" pretty much says it all.
But I wish the public could, in the midst of its pleasures, see how blatantly it is being spoon-fed, and ask for slightly better dreams. 
                        - Iris Barry from "The Public's Pleasure" (1926)

ses

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Re: No Country for Old Men
« Reply #89 on: December 30, 2007, 11:26:03 PM »
I can't even remember the linoleum, I was looking at Chigurh.
"It's a fool who looks for logic in the chambers of the human heart"

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