"No Country For Old Men" (2007) Directed by The Coen Brothers

“If I don’t come back, tell Mother I love her”. “Your Mother’s dead Llewelyn”. “Well then I’ll tell her myself”.

Nominated for eight Oscars, the Coen Brothers themselves won in three categories (Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay) taking their current personal tally to four Oscars. The other Oscar was awarded for a thunderous performance from Javier Bardem as Best Supporting Actor, more of which later. Numerous other awards followed for a film that is simply breath taking at times and at others is a slow, methodical take on consistently used Coen Brothers themes of a simple plan going awry and of luck and chance playing a huge part in our every day lives. Based on the book of the same name by Cormac McCarthy, there is a particularly minimal score from regular collaborator Carter Burwell with often only sounds used to convey the current scene, a coin dropped, a distant rustle or particularly a tracking transponder “blip” that when used is the dominant sound of the scene. On first viewing the lack of a musical score was immediately evident but on subsequent viewings this subtle, almost subconscious collection of sounds become the score.

Regular collaborator and Director of Photography Roger Deakins was also nominated for an Oscar but again (unfairly) lost out and it is to him we start this journey as the film itself opens with continual back drops of wide open Texas plains and deserts and what becomes an integral character of the film itself. The first two Acts in particular are immersed in these wide open plains and this very integral part of the film is shot and framed beautifully throughout. The film immediately has a feel and look of Fargo (minus the snow) in it’s vast open vistas as far as the eye can see, bleak and very remote.

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The above opening paragraphs are taken from my original spoiler free review of "No Country For Old Men" penned and published over a decade ago, transferred to my Medium blog site and which can now be read in full and for free via my Substack blog site and original updated article linked immediately below. I've also linked my original opus blog article on the entire career of the Coen Brothers below too:

https://ramblingmusings666.substack.com/p/no-country-for-old-men-2007-fb3939ee2f5d

https://medium.com/@stephenblackford561/the-world-according-to-the-coen-brothers-f033b11d957d

This spoiler free review is also integral to volume 3 of my 7 volume series of "essential film reviews collection". Currently only available in e-book form on Amazon and priced at £4.99 per volume, should you have an Amazon Kindle "Unlimited" package you can read each and every exhaustive volume of multiple film reviews for free:

Volume 3

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C4JTLRY1

All 7 Volume Series

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C4HZSTTH?binding=kindle_edition&ref=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_pc_tukn

https://www.patreon.com/TheBlackfordBookClub
https://www.paypal.me/TheBlackfordBookClub
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/steveblackford

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