No Country Film Review

At the outset I must confess that I'm a big fan of Coen brothers films, my top three favorites being Raising Arizona, O Brother, and Fargo. I'm also a big fan (and humble scholar) of Cormac McCarthy, my top three favorites being the Border Trilogy, Blood Meridian, and The Road. My children have accused me (not unjustly) of loving any film with the West and horses in it, so I must also note that No Country is, indeed, a Western and that it features a nice scene with two horses (one named Winston, the other unnamed). I like it that McCarthy and the Coens have the sheriff and one of his deputies riding out to a crime scene horseback.

In the film previews running on T.V. Roger Ebert is quoted as calling the film "perfect," which is high praise--especially coming from the big Chicago critic in the balcony. I wouldn't quite go that far, but it's a very fine film, an excellent adaptation of McCarthy's novel. The Coen brothers certainly did justice to the novel, something everyone in the Cormac McCarthy Society hoped and even expected they would do.

First of all, the casting is excellent, from the Tommy Lee Jones as Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, the sometime narrator and ethical center of the novel and the film, to all the the minor characters. Josh Brolin is even great as Moss. The one exception is Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh, who is, let me hasten to add, terrific in the film. He just doesn't fit the character McCarthy created because Bardem is way too noticeable and memorable. In the novel Chigurh is much more non-discript, someone who could blend in easily with a crowd. There are other ways the film departs from the novel, but I'll just let those go because the Coens generally made good choices. The pacing is wonderful, as is the cinematography. The ending is brilliant, although several people around us didn't seem to like it very much. I resisted the temptation to give them a lecture.