No Country For Old Men
Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin
Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
Rated R for strong graphic violence and some language
Blu-ray and standard DVD available on March 11, 2008
When No Country won the Oscar for best picture, a lot of folks, including me, were forced to do a lot of head scratching. But upon much reflection, I have started to see what is so amazing about this film. My biggest problem with it was what they did with the hero. Of course I thought the hero was Brolin’s character. If you watch the film from the point of view that Jones’s sheriff is the hero, Bardem is the villain, and Brolin is just caught in the middle, the film takes on a new dimension. It is a deeply complex story with interesting characters and thought-provoking dialogue. The DVD contains a nice documentary on the making of the film and working with the Coens, but like all of the other Coen Brothers films, there is no commentary from them describing their strange, quirky process.