*** Official NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[oscar_merkx]

my impression was that he knew he was being tailed.

 

[Stephen Orr]

Well, maybe it's because I saw this in two sittings (night 1 - beginning through intro of Carson Wells; night 2 - the rest of the movie).

Night one, I was completely wrapped up in the story. Night two, I was getting back into it, until the sheriff saw Moss' body on the floor. I was stunned. Then Chigur shows up and kills the wife. Stunned again. Then he walks away from the crash, and the movie ends with TLJ's monologue about his dream.

I was a huge fan of Fargo, but man, I just wasn't expecting such a huge bummer of an ending.

Guess I need to pull out "O Brother Where Art Thou" to cheer myself up.

 

[Marianne]

If Chigurh got the money out of the vent then where was it at the end. Just because the vent had been opened doesn't mean the money was there. The vent didn't look big enough to me. He just walked away from the car crash with nothing (no visible weapons, no money).

Also, there were some people that Chigurh interacted with that he didn't kill. Why? The man in the gas station won the coin toss, but what about the woman at the trailer park. The fact that he left some people alive, could lead you to believe that he didn't kill Carla Jean.

If the Mexicans got the money then Chigurh could be going after them next. He is like the terminator and will not stop until the job is done, even though the people who hired him are dead.

 

[Jacob McCraw]

The three Mexicans that Chigurh kills (one in the tub) were in Moss' first room. He had to get the second room to recover the money.

 

[Bryan^H]

I thought that interaction between Carla Jean, and Chigurh was the strangest part of the movie. He was 100% positively going to kill her to begin with, but then she talked him into a 50/50 situation with the coin toss. She was killed in the book, so I imagine that is the outcome in the movie as well. I just thought it was weird that Chigurh being such a psychotic murderer went from a plan to murder someone, to a "maybe" murder someone scenario. That one scene showed he was capable of change.

 

[Henry Gale]

The woman at the trailer park was saved by the sound of a flushing toilet. When Anton heard that he knew that the time was not right for an execution.
After killing Carson Wells, Anton moved his feet to avoid the spreading pool of blood. This was a foreshadowing of his inspecting his boot soles as he emerged from undoubtedly finishing off Carla Jean.

 

[Marianne]

Note to self: Remember to always carry a recording of a flushing toilet, you never know when you might need it.

 

[Felix Martinez]

And that is what I feel is the theme of the film, which someone here said amounts to two words spoken - "hold still." Chigurh was really the only one that keeps his head when all about him are losing theirs and blaming him (as Rudy K. might also say - "hold on!").

Still was disappointed with the final act, but I will revisit and think I'll get more out of it upon second viewing.

 

[Nathan V]

I've seen the film a number of times now, and now it's the actually the infamous third act that holds the most satisfaction for me. At first it was the opposite.

Tommy Lee is suffering from a moral crisis; he thinks, like everyone does, that the world is getting worse. Compare his two monologues- the one that opens the movie and the one that closes it.

By the end, he's come closer to finding a much more deeply optimistic way of seeing the world, via that fantastic conversation with his uncle, who effectively says, Bjorn Lomborg style, 'it isn't getting worse. sh*t's always been terrible.'

There is of course more to the Tommy Lee's final monologue, but it's this aspect that resonates with me the most. The film can actually be seen as quite optimistic; the protagonist achieves a solution to his problem (which most of us share) internally, through a new-found shift in perception (which we can all do).

Regards,
Nathan

 

[Jack Gilvey]

This whole film was magnificent, especially the ending. Not Hollywood enough for many, but perfect for the film.



And didn't they discuss money, didn't she say something about not having any left? And how'd she get that nice house after living in a trailer park? I think she got the money...she was at the scene.

 

[Brett_M]

That was her mother's house.

 

[Jack Gilvey]

Got it.

 

[Edwin-S]

Finally took the wrapper off and watched this film. It dragged. Too slow.
Some interesting points:

1) The lack of, for the most part, background music.
2) The fact that Llewelyn gets killed.
3) The fact that he gets killed by the Mexicans and not the psychopath.
4) The ending, which I didn't like. The psycho should have been killed in
the crash. It would have tied in very nicely to all those ideas of "luck"
and the "inevitability of death" that people here pointed out.
5) TLJ's monologue at the end seemed pointless.
6) This movie should have been called No Country For Any Man. It was
mostly young or middle-aged men being killed, and the old man was
wise enough to realize that it was time to pull the pin.

 

[Henry Gale]

Edwin,

Thanks!

 

[Edwin-S]

You're welcome. It may appear that I'm knocking the film. I'm not. It is a good film. I just like like some of their earlier films better. For example, FARGO and MILLER'S CROSSING.

 

[buttmunker]

Ah, but I think the Psycho suffered worse than death in that crash. By the looks of it, he will lose his arm. What good is a one-armed psycho, I ask ya?!

 

[Bryan^H]

I hate holes in movies.

When Anton kills the businessman, and the accountant asks"Are you going to shoot me?". Anton replies"Do you see me?".

Now you can take this two ways.
1. the accountant replies no, and Anton leaves him alone.
2.The answer to Anton's question is obviously "yes" and therefore the answer Anton intend on using on him. Are you going to shoot me....yes.


Any thoughts on this, or am I over analyzing?

 

[Ben Osborne]

Given the dialog above, I would assume that Anton would not spare someone who just witnessed him murder a man.

 

[Brett_M]

You're overanalyzing. It's not a hole -- it's black comedy. Of course he's going to shoot him.

 

[theredguy]

most likely he killed her