14 April, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Today I saw the acclaimed Coen brothers film at the cinema. I know, I’m behind the times. Here is my review:
Good flippin’ grief.
I think that about covers it. I mean, come on. What the heck was that all about? While I admire the skills of the actors and filmmakers, I think it was a deeply flawed film overall. More specifically, it featured a deeply flawed narrative. Actually, I would describe it as an anti-narrative. This review from the Washington Post is one of the only negative reviews out there (and I think it’s right on). I don’t understand the universal acclaim for this film at all. I could write more about it, but the whole experience has drained me and I’d just rather forget about it. One thing is for sure — tonight I will have nightmares about this face (and haircut):
Oy vey.
Tags: No Country for Old Men
Anglofille said @ 7:46 pm | film |
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Somehow I also ended up missing “No Country for Old Men” at the theatre, but I somehow I’m not interested in it. I generally like Javier Bardem as an actor, and I can recommend “Mar Adentro”. It’s in Spanish, but he’s brilliant in it. Rent it if you can.
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mark Says:
April 15th, 2008 at 1:23 amnice to read your review. However, if you make a claim such as “deeply flawed” you probably want to explain wahat you mean by this. This way it[the review] is interesting for the reader as well! It’s called substantiating your claim.
-Peace
Mark
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Silvana: I want to see Bardem in something else, just to see a different side of him. He was a monster in this film, really really evil and scary.
Mark: This really wasn’t a review, hence the lack of detail. I used to post in-depth film reviews on this site, but no one was really interested in reading that (it seemed to me). The Washington Post Review sums it all up perfectly, better than I could ever say it.
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I can definitely recommend “Mar Adentro” (The Sea Inside), and “Carne Tremula” (Live Flesh). They’re both in Spanish with English subtitles. He’s great in both. If you watch these movies let me know what you think. Bonne journée¡
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SpliceGirl Says:
April 15th, 2008 at 4:34 pmAw, we love the crazy Coen Brothers and the equally kinda psychotic Cormac McCarthy. Together they created a movie totally fitting to both of them. The Coen Brothers always make movies like this, I don’t think it was a deeply flawed narrative I think it is the way they tell stories through film.
See “Before Night Falls”, Javier is great in that. It sounds creepy but it’s not, he’s a poet. And Johnny Depp is in it. That’s enough for me.
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I still haven’t seen this and now after reading the washington post review I think it sinks even lower on the netflix queue if it ever gets into the queue to begin with. I don’t know, I just remember seeing the trailer so many times in movie theaters and while I at first just laughed at how ridiculous it looked seeing it again and again it just rubbed me the wrong way. it doesn’t help when I read an Ebert quote like “the movie demonstrates how pitiful ordinary human feelings are in the face of implacable injustice.” which I think is supposed to be a compliment?
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Silvana: I will look for those films!
SpliceGirl: I liked Fargo a lot. That film, despite being terribly grim, also featured a bit of humanity. I think that was missing from No Country for Old Men. I found that the non-stop bleakness of the plot ended up undermining any point they were trying to make. There was no pay-off at the end for the viewer. It was like a film for the sake of film-making, rather than a film for an audience.
Luke: I think the film critics really got sucked in. Since this movie is so disturbing, they automatically believe it also must have some deeper meaning. I didn’t really find one. My friend who I saw this film with (and he didn’t like it either) said this is a case of “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”
But I could never see the point of tuna and sweet corn...
