Yesterday, Scott and I watched the last of the 2007 Best Picture nominees we needed to see, No Country For Old Men. Admittedly I love Coen brother movies, but I delayed seeing this film because it was described as a dark and graphic movie. However, after seeing the pointless There Will Be Blood and the mundane Michael Clayton, I was motivated to see what turned out to be an interesting and entertaining movie. No Country does have similarities to Coens' 1997 Fargo (rural sheriff tracking a killer with a sidekick deputy, humble guy with quick-rich scheme, and a ruthless killer), but with far less dark comedy. No Country reminded me of their 1984 movie Blood Simple which was dark and violent. Also, No Country is set in dingy, brown 1980 which they did a terrific job portraying. So much of their movies is about the dull, ordinary aspects of cheap suburban and motel life even in the midst of a murder story.
I also put-off seeing this movie because it starred Tommy Lee Jones in another law-enforcement-officer-tracking-a-fugative role and it took me awhile to give Jones a chance to convince me of his character. By the end of the movie though, Jones' Sherriff Bell was one of the most interesting characters in the story. Javier Bardem was also great as the hulking killer, but his character seemed a little too sociopathic and cartoonish to me.
Of the best picture nominees, No Country is my favorite -- although Juno was more fun to watch and Atonement was more epic.
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