Image courtesy of impawards.com

Director:

Joel and Ethan Coen

Cast:

Tommy Lee Jones……….Ed Tom Bell
Javier Bardem……….Anton Chigurh
Josh Brolin……….Llewelyn Moss
Woody Harrelson……….Carson Wells
Kelly MacDonald……….Carla Jean Moss
Garret Dillahunt……….Wendell
Tess Harper……….Loretta Bell
Barry Corbin……….Ellis
Stephen Root……….Man who hires Wells
Rodger Boyce……….El Paso Sheriff
Beth Grant……….Agnes (Carla Jean’s Mom)

How often can you say in your lifetime that you just saw a masterpiece? Maybe half a dozen times? And we’re not talking about films that are good, or even great. You get about 10-15 of those a year. No, it’s a rare person who can count on more than one hand going into a theater and seeing a Citizen Kane or Vertigo or Godfather. Well, get another finger ready, because years from now film scholars will be adding No Country For Old Men to that list.

Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) is a Vietnam vet and unemployed welder, living in a run down trailer with his young wife Carla Jean (Kelly MacDonald). Out hunting one day, he stumbles upon a scene of carnage, a drug deal gone wrong. There’s a truckload of heroin, which he leaves, and further in the valley, under a tree, another dead body and a satchel with $2 million in cash. Moss takes the cash, but, as you can guess, keeping it isn’t as simple as it sounds. Both sides of the botched drug deal are searching for him; on one side is the Mexican Mafia, and on the other is Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), a soulless killer with a twisted sense of principles.

Tracking events is the local sheriff, Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), from a long line of lawmen, who has been run down by the ever-escalating violence he sees around him. Early in the film, he reminisces on the days when a sheriff didn’t even need to carry a gun, an option he clearly doesn’t have. Bell tries his best to piece together the puzzle scattered around him, but unfortunately for himself and others, he’s at best a step behind the action.

Joel and Ethan Coen are probably best known for making dark comedies about quirky individuals intersecting with other quirky characters, but often overlooked is the fact that they essentially bought film noir back into the cinematic lexicon. And after stumbling through the forest with clunkers such as The Ladykillers and Intolerable Cruelty, it’s great to see them back in the muck with the lowlifes they made their names with.

The performances they draw out of the cast are nothing short of remarkable. The weakest performance is probably that of Tommy Lee Jones, and when he’s a film’s weak link, well, you know that film’s something special. Jones injects a lifetime of weariness into his role as the aging sheriff who’s come to the realization that he’s not equipped to handle the ruthless evil that now inhabits the world. It’s a role that seems tailor made for the native Texan; he wears it like a comfortable coat.

Josh Brolin has come a long, long way from The Goonies. Babs’s stepson has been wandering the wilderness since he made his debut as Brand, bouncing from Thrashin’ to The Mod Squad to Hollow Man in an effort to keep working. But after the year he’s had, work won’t be so hard to come by anymore. From Grindhouse to In the Valley of Elah to American Gangster, Brolin has been kicking ass and taking names. But he saved his best work for last. His portrayal of Llewelyn Moss is classic Western hero: tough, taciturn, and tenacious. It’s the performance of a lifetime, one any actor would give a limb to have on their resumé.

But as great as Jones and Brolin are, the performance that will be remembered for decades alongside such personifications of evil as Harry Lime, Harry Powell, and Hannibal Lecter is Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh. Bardem’s portrayal of a psychopath who can kill over something as mundane as the flip of a coin will keep you riveted to your seat. He’s got a sick sort of charisma that will cast its spell on you, making it impossible to turn away. It’s a performance that will ensure immortality for Bardem.

When dealing with a film noir, mood is just as important as the plot and performances, and the Coens have surrounded themselves with some incredible talent. Roger Deakins’ cinematography is jaw-dropping. His camera work recalls the majesty of John Ford’s best films, giving the desolate South Texas landscape a majestic, almost mystical appearance. And Carter Burwell’s score weaves in and out of the film so deftly that you almost forget it’s there.

Joel and Ethan Coen have added yet another impressive entry to their already formidable body of work. It’s hard to conceive after their most recent output that they could put out anything that would compare favorably to their earlier work, but not only does No Country For Old Men stand up to Miller’s Crossing and Fargo, it surpasses them. This is the best film the Coens have ever done, the best film of the year, and maybe the best film of the new millennium.

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