Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen

Written by Joel and Ethan Coen, based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy

Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin.

DVD is released in the U.S. on March 11th, 2008. Find it at Amazon for $18.99!

The DVD is not yet scheduled for release in the U.K. Sorry kids!!!

Review by Ray DeRousse

In a year of brutal, searing cinema, No Country For Old Men easily conquered the rest and captured a well-deserved Oscar for Best Picture. And now, right on the heels of a triumphant Oscar season, the film arrives on DVD in a form lacking the prestigious treatment one would expect of an “instant classic” of this caliber.

THE FILM

My favorite film of last year, No Country For Old Men combines magnetic performances, witty, inventive writing, and perfect direction from Joel and Ethan Coen into a cool, shadowy fog of fateful despondency. Unflinching, subtly pessimistic, and clinically reserved, the film plays out like a puzzle that has no definitive final piece.

The entire film is a meditation on the inexorable march of evil, and the bewildered wake of good people who could not see it coming because they could not comprehend the incomprehensible. From the muttered and stunned opening narration by Tommy Lee Jones, the film builds this theme of a good world left behind by the evil forces within. Interesting characters and a twisting narrative become cyphers for man’s fruitless struggle against superior and malignant forces. Despite lacking CGI nonsense – and even a musical score of any kind – No Country For Old Men completely captivates the viewer with its relentlessness until the final, shocking cut to black.

Every performance in the film works perfectly. Jones’ sheriff is weary yet friendly, a role that Jones could play five minutes after his death. Josh Brolin turns in a career-redefining performance as Llewelyn Moss, a poor welder who happens to stumble into a fateful and disastrous situation. The real scene stealer here is, of course, Oscar winner Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh. Easily the best villainous performance since Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, Bardem radiates a malicious cool as the hired killer. Even the bits parts are perfectly cast and played, adding to the realism of small town Texas. Only Woody Harrelson, playing a killer competing with Chigurh, comes off as mismatched to the part. His slightly over-the-top portrayal tends to distract from the film’s carefully-crafted tone.

The Coen’s show here that they are at the very top of their considerable powers. Repeatedly, they shock the audience with inventive editing and clever composition. This, combined with stunning cinematography courtesy of Roger Deakins, creates a world that feels as dirty and hopeless as it looks.

In other words, the film is a masterpiece on all fronts.

TECHNICAL

The film looks terrific, of course. All of Deakins’ hard work has been preserved faithfully, with the carefully placed blacks especially deep and rich.

For the home theater experience, No Country For Old Men provides a better appreciation for the sound design of the film. This is a film that uses incidental sound as the score, and it is both subtle and careful. The soundtrack, showcased in 5.1 Dolby Digital, allows the perfect sound design to shine from all areas of the sonic field. What a fantastic soundtrack!

EXTRAS

For an Oscar winning film, this DVD comes with insubstantial supplemental material.

Three fairly short retrospectives fill out the disc. The first, Making of No Country For Old Men, looks into the technical aspects of bringing this complex book to the screen. Much of it is typical glad-handing, with some interesting glances at how the Coens direct and put their visually-inventive films together. Most surprising was the moment Kelly Macdonald opened her mouth and revealed her Scottish background, so convincing was her performance as a Texas hick.

The second, a Coen Brother blowjob called Working With The Coens, allows everyone in the cast to marvel at the unique chemistry between the directing brothers. Neat.

The final and best of the three shorts is Diary of a County Sheriff. This little movie helps those who felt lost or confused by the intricate themes woven throughout the film. It retraces the plight of Jones’ sheriff to understand the world changing around him through the clever use of dialogue and actor commentary. A welcome addition to the disc.

OVERALL

In my opinion, a film of this standard deserves the treatment afforded titles like the Lord of the Ringsfilms. I feel confident that, like Unforgiven and others, it will be revisited in a future release with much more care and insight. However, the film itself fully justifies a purchase. This is the type of filmmaking for which film lovers have anxiously waited while enduring seemingly endless torrents of blockbuster bullshit.

NOTE TO HOLLYWOOD: Special effects, so-called stars, and the latest gimmicks do not make audiences treasure a film. Only art endures.

And No Country For Old Men is art.