A film that is difficult to place into just one particular
genre, 2007s No Country for Old Men
saw the Coen brothers win their first and perhaps long overdue Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director. In a year for which its main rival was the equally nihilistic
and violent There Will Be Blood the
Coen’s film won a total of four Oscars and three BAFTAS. Set in the West Texas desert in the early 1980s the film is based on
the novel of the same name by Cormac McCarthy and tells the story of a man (Josh
Brolin) who chances upon the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong and finds $2
million just waiting to be taken. He is chased by the vicious and merciless hit
man Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) who is hired to get the money back. Both are
in turn hunted down by local Sheriff Ed Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) who despite in
being way over his head maintains a calm exterior in the face of the task in
front of him. No Country for Old Men is
the sort of film that I’d be happy to watch every five years or so but wouldn’t
want to see it any more often than that. It is a supremely made movie which
features some stunning performances and an interesting story but I found myself
drifting more and more as it went on.