Saw it Tuesday at Chinook. By far the best movie I have seen this year. I might go so far as to say it's the best I have seen in several years.
Filmmaking like this is rare. This movie is a perfect symphony of all of its components - the writing, the editing, the cinematography, the score, the acting, all of it is rock solid. The way the Coens unfold the story is meticulous and calculated; they know exactly what information to divulge and when, and they trust that the audience is intelligent enough to fill in the gaps (in the hands of lesser filmmakers the plot could have been fleshed out substantially to provide more exposition). The suspense in this film is thick and brooding, thanks in large part to crafty editing and efficient (when it is not boldly picturesque) cinematography. I recall during one scene, for example, I caught myself almost physically leaning over to try to peer around a corner in the shot on screen.
The lead performances by Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin are remarkable - Bardem has earned high praise for his previous work but here he is frighteningly effective as the smiling, humorless villain, while Brolin is pitch perfect as the man Bardem is hunting down. Tommy Lee Jones gets limited screen time but he makes the most of it with a restrained perfomance; Jones can chew scenery with the best of them but here he shows that less is more with his weatherbeaten, later-career sherriff. Also noteworthy is Woody Harrelson, who also gets top mileage out of a small part.
I haven't yet figured out how to read this film; it seems there is more than one accurate interpretation. The mark of a great movie is one where you can find something new with each viewing, and No Country fits this paradigm to a tee.
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