November 22 2007
No Country for Old Men
When Llewelyn Moss makes off with a satchel of money he discovers amidst the remains of a major drug deal gone wrong he plunges himself headfirst into a world of criminal rivals, hit men, and ceaseless violence that his experience as a Vietnam vet has inadequately prepared him for. And yet, No Country For Old Men isn’t really about Llewelyn Moss, even though he gets the lion’s share of the screen time and is, ostensibly, the film’s protagonist. Beneath the action and the ultraviolence is a desperate consideration of a world moving on without a discernible moral compass, a time when men do not live by codes, and a way of life that seems unanchored, arbitrary, and unstoppable. While Llewelyn tries his best to keep one step ahead of two hired guns and a gang of Mexican drug trafficers, local sheriff Ed Tom Bell wrestles with understanding a world that no longer fits into his frame of reference. The only thing that lets the film down is the abruptness with which the story changes gears; while the Coen Brothers‘ auteur aesthetics mesh well with the source material of Cormac McCarthy’s novel, the final reel in particular feels like a bait-and-switch that cries out for just a little more closure.
