Author Topic: No Country for Old Men  (Read 48701 times)

ekename

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Re: No Country for Old Men
« Reply #140 on: February 26, 2008, 12:27:07 AM »
Really good flick.  Lots to think about.

Favorite scenes:

1. The strangulation of the deputy at the beginning.  Absolutely chilling with the deputy on talking on the phone, camera is sharply focused on him, and you see Chigurh stand up in the background and step over the handcuffs. YIKES!

2. Moss returning to the desert massacre at night and looking back to see the second truck on the ridge.  DOUBLE YIKES!!

3. Moss jumping in the Rio Grande to evade pursuit and the put bull swimming after him.  Then him trying to reload with dry cartridges as the dog bears down on him.

4. Moss sitting on his bed in the hotel in Eagle Pass after calling down to the clerk and hearing the hotel creaking at Chigurh comes up the stairs.

4. Finally, Chigurh's car getting nailed and the kid saying "Look at that f***ing bone!" after the unrelenting tension of the last 45 mins or so I started laughing and got some ugly looks from people in the theatre.

sdedalus

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Re: No Country for Old Men
« Reply #141 on: February 26, 2008, 12:31:35 AM »
If you're looking for metaphors in this movie you probably missed the point of the film. I'm notorious for over thinking films and even I didn't look for metaphors in this film.

So do you take the title literally?

pixote

How do you take it?
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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: No Country for Old Men
« Reply #142 on: February 26, 2008, 06:36:52 PM »
If you're looking for metaphors in this movie you probably missed the point of the film. I'm notorious for over thinking films and even I didn't look for metaphors in this film.

So do you take the title literally?

pixote
Yes. ;D The whole point of the film is that there is no longer any place for old men because of the morals they hold in an immoral universe.  But once you try painting Chigurh as a metaphor for death I think you missed the point. He's a crazy killer who knows his craft well and those moments are there to portray the fact that despite his cool demeanor he's still very human.

samfuller

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Re: No Country for Old Men
« Reply #143 on: February 26, 2008, 09:38:47 PM »
Since when were "old men" more moral than people today? Anyone with any historical sense know this is false, and the Coen brothers undercut this, especially with the scene with Bell and the old man he visits (an exchange not in the novel).


saltine

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Re: No Country for Old Men
« Reply #144 on: February 26, 2008, 09:44:32 PM »
Since when were "old men" more moral than people today? Anyone with any historical sense know this is false, and the Coen brothers undercut this, especially with the scene with Bell and the old man he visits (an exchange not in the novel).



Earlier in this thread, that issue of relative morals was addressed, particularly by sdedalus.  The Coens told the story from a different viewpoint than Cormac McCarthy's book was written.  Bell was the focus of the novel, but only one part of the film's narrative.
Texan Down Under

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Re: No Country for Old Men
« Reply #145 on: February 26, 2008, 09:48:25 PM »
I still say that Moss was the barometer of morality for the Coens...

The issue was murky to most viewers because we are comparing him to the man who is hunting him (Chigurh). The fact is that neither man is "moral" and I think that's the point of the name - Bell doesn't know who the "good guys" are in this case (really - there aren't any)...it's time to leave when he can't see that.
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saltine

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Re: No Country for Old Men
« Reply #146 on: February 26, 2008, 10:02:56 PM »
I still say that Moss was the barometer of morality for the Coens...

The issue was murky to most viewers because we are comparing him to the man who is hunting him (Chigurh). The fact is that neither man is "moral" and I think that's the point of the name - Bell doesn't know who the "good guys" are in this case (really - there aren't any)...it's time to leave when he can't see that.

Morality aside, it seems to me that what frustrates Bell is that he can't think like Moss or Chigurh so he's always behind the game, doing mop-up instead of being the law enforcement man he once was himself as.  This is maybe clearer in the book than in the film.  That's why I said earlier that I was glad the film ended with the black screen because the only other logical ending would have been Bell riding into the sunset.
Texan Down Under

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Re: No Country for Old Men
« Reply #147 on: February 26, 2008, 11:01:40 PM »
I think we are saying the same thing..
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sdedalus

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Re: No Country for Old Men
« Reply #148 on: February 26, 2008, 11:07:14 PM »
Since when were "old men" more moral than people today? Anyone with any historical sense know this is false, and the Coen brothers undercut this, especially with the scene with Bell and the old man he visits (an exchange not in the novel).



Earlier in this thread, that issue of relative morals was addressed, particularly by sdedalus.  The Coens told the story from a different viewpoint than Cormac McCarthy's book was written.  Bell was the focus of the novel, but only one part of the film's narrative.

Yeah, I was just going to say that that's what I've been saying.
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saltine

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Re: No Country for Old Men
« Reply #149 on: February 26, 2008, 11:19:09 PM »
I think we are saying the same thing..

Oh, we are!  I was only re-enforcing your point, without getting into the morality issues.  sdedalus had already addressed that adequately.
Texan Down Under