The Gamer's Quarter

helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

I saw the Coen brothers' new film, No Country for Old Men last night. It is the best film I have seen since Cuaron's Y Tu Mama Tambien. [Children of Men, Howl's Moving Castle, Ratatouille, The Life Aquatic, Dave Chappelle's Block Party, and The Incredibles are other notables from this decade that I would place behind those two.]

Llewelyn Moss strikes me as an interesting character. Certainly, he's clever. He's often playful, and determined beyond measure. But his position as the film's protagonist feels forced--and I mean that in a good way. In a film where the only other options are the darkly humorous but still terrifying Anton Chigurh, who even at his most compelling moments is tough to root for, and the frequently (and fittingly) absent Ed Tom Bell, Llewelyn Moss feels like a cinematic experiment on par with early Soviet cinema's explorations of montage. Cormac McCarthy and the Coens offer up a brooding, ambiguous, violent, greedy, delusional man with an inscrutable history, but taken with the other lead characters and against the stunning void of the Coens' west Texas landscapes, he's all the audience has to grab hold of. And he transfixed us! (I speak for my entire theatre.) It was not that we believed in him or identified with him, but we depended on him solely because of his presence. He's compelling because he's a negative image to the void surrounding him.

How far can this concept be pushed? How much is a protagonist the mere product of happenstance rather than an actual construction of a hero?

There's plenty else in the movie to talk about, as well.
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

I've heard a few people rave about this film, i will check it out!

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Yeah, I knew this was coming out eventually. Didn't know it already had! Seems to only be one place in the Bay Area playing it.

People are talking about it like it's the new Fargo. Which... could mean anything. Though Fargo's great and all, I'm more fond of the Barton Fink/Lebowski strain.

Still, hey. After Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers, it's nice to see the Coens back on form. It seems like every time they reboot, they do it with a "dark" movie. Blood Simple, Fargo, No Country...

I'd not mind a DVD of Blood Simple.
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helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

The DVD of Blood Simple already exists, but it might not be in print. It's no-frills.

No Country for Old Men is the best work the Coens have ever done, and this is coming from a huge admirer of theirs.

If you want a comparison with their other films, it has hints of O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Fargo, and Blood Simple peppered throughout.

Less of the others.

(Honestly, I think The Big Lebowski is only better than Ladykillers and Intolerable Cruelty.)
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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Blood Simple is amazing. Unrelated, but speaking noir, I'd like if a region 2 DVD of Payback was released.
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aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Mr Mustache · . Joined: 26 Oct 2006 Posts: 167 Location: Queens

One of my friends got tickets to an advance screening with Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin. The film is pretty great. It's been a long while since I've seen such tight film-making.
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

I just downloaded the movie and it was only playable through DOM PLAYER which you have to pay for and is not a real program, GRR

Also apparently it installs a load of malware on your system. I wouldn't have minded so much but I tried to download Be Kind Rewind at the same time, and the Rar file was password protected! I guess you have to watch out when you're downloading very recent films.

seryogin · Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 8:48 am Post subject:

This movie is great. I'm bumping this for the Coen Brothers.
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aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Yeah, artistically it's a new high for them. I need to process it more. Not sure what I think about it.

I like the dialog. Though I kind of expected that. And the structure, yeah, that's interesting.

I dunno. Something always bothers me when they go into "serious" mode. It took a long time for me to like Fargo. Maybe that's not such a bad thing.
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seryogin · Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 9:44 am Post subject:

helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

As my friend and I sat through the credits, this conversation took place:

Guy #1: Umm...so, was that funny?
Guy #2: Well...uh....
Guy #1: Seriously. I was on the edge of laughter the whole time, but I could never tell if I should, so I just stayed there on the edge.
Guy #2: Uhhh, yeah. Me too.
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helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

boojiboy7 · Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 11:38 pm Post subject:

Guys I really like The Ladykillers a lot.

But yes, this was quite good, certainly the best thing the Coens have done.

daphaknee · Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 2:35 am Post subject:

i just saw a cohen brothers box set at borders for like fourty dollars

im totally getting that shit

Faithless · . Joined: 11 Sep 2005 Posts: 153

Being a member of the Hollywood Union World Where I'm Expected To Vote On Actors and Stuff, I have a copy of No Country for Old Men on DVD sitting here on my desk.

I have not yet seen it, but probably will watch it today.

Mostly, I'm bragging right up there.

Here's more. I also have a copy of Into the Wild, King of Kong, and a giant glossy free pass to There Will Be Blood.

I am bragging because this is the first year this has ever happened to me.
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helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

seryogin · Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 1:26 pm Post subject:

A friend of mine works for the producer's guild and also gave me a copy. Does yours come in a folding case with bunches and bunches of quotes on it?
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Faithless · . Joined: 11 Sep 2005 Posts: 153

None of my things came in a briefcase. I'm not a producer. Sad

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seryogin · Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 1:43 pm Post subject:

I was reading Ebert just now, mentally tsk-tsk-ing him for his faults, when I saw that he called "Vengeance is Mine" a great movie I made grimaced and said that the bastard obviously wasn't interested in preasing "Mishima," which is a much finer Ken Ogata-starring movie and a much better film overall. So I clicked into the great movies section and was flabbergasted to see "Mishima" listed as one Ebert's great movies.

Now, at this point I was excited and pissed at having to eat my own words (or in this case, thoughts; even though Ebert has a factual error in almost every sentence and totally makes a fuckton of mistakes regarding Mishima's personality) when I got to the end of the essay and discovered that motherfucking Criterion was giving "Mishima" a re-release!

Folks, I am not the frothing type, but this news made me possitively explode with excitement. I am bit sad to find myself winding down now and not knowing what to do with this post. I guess I'll post it and suggest that everyone watch the movie once it comes out, especially since the old DVD is very rare now (Shaper tried buying it on my suggestion and couldn't locate it).
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

I've not seen it, but I like Phillip Glass's soundtrack for that movie.

daphaknee · Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 11:58 pm Post subject:

roger ebert LOVES babe 2

digi · Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 5:01 pm Post subject:

Roger Ebert LOVES No Country for Old Men

guys I really didn't like Ebert at all for a long time until I started reading his post "Mullholland Drive" stuff. i don't necessarily agree with him most of the time, but the man works on the power of brilliant insight, not factual [i.e. ultimately trivial] detailing

read his review of Kore-Eda's "Maborosi"
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

You've just put your finger on one of the hallmarks of good critque, there. I hadn't really thought about it before now, but that's something that all people who're writing reviews should aspire to.

shrug · . Joined: 01 Dec 2006 Posts: 10

Roger Ebert loves reeling off a (lengthybut frequently inaccurate) plot summary and then saying "I guess this works on its own level" and giving a movie three stars.

sediment · Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 8:45 am Post subject:

Shuffling back to Old Men...

Chigurh is definitely a clear villain in the film, I mean the first exposure you have to him he calmly strangles a cop and then puts a bolt in an utterly innocent motorist's head.

The closest thing he has to a "good deed" is letting the store clerk live when he correctly calls the coin toss.

The thing is, this is one movie where I can only consider a third party who has relatively little to do with the action anything close to a "hero" - and that's Tommy Lee Jones. A similar film would be maybe Ichi the Killer, where the only halfway decent guy is the crappy cop turned yakuza. It's not so much a movie of black and white, so much as it is grey and grey and black.
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dhex · Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 10:08 am Post subject:

the real villain in no country is moss. he puts everyone he loves in danger because he half-assed his thieving and refused to understand his nature.

anton understands his nature. the tommy lee jones cop understands his nature. moss does not, and thusly everyone suffers.
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