The Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men
Posted by John Brownlee
When a new Coen Brothers movie comes out, something happens to me: my entire spinal column begins to quiver, from neck to coccyx. The sensation has not paled even after a couple of notably inferior Coen Brothers films: their mediocre remake of the The Ladykillers and the enjoyable but decidedly un-Coen-esque Intolerable Cruelty.
But good lord, this trailer for their upcoming version of Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men is stunning. It’s a return to the darker side of the Coens, a throwback to their earlier films like Blood Simple and Fargo. And just from the trailer, Javier Bardem as Chigurh — a violent sociopath obsessed with chance and carrying a cattle gun — looks like he could just be one of the darkest and most frightening villains in Hollywood history.
I’ve never read any McCarthy, but both The Road and No Country for Old Men really look up my alley. Anyone care to give me a recommendation?
Categories: Psychos, Trailers, Horror, Film, Clips
Posted at 1:21 pm on July 24, 2007
33 Comments -
i’ve read THE ROAD and thought it was excellent
Comment by mike — July 24, 2007 @ 1:33 pm
I’ve never read McCarthy either (weirdly, whenever you mention an author you’ve read like P.G. Wodehouse or Kingsley Amis, I seem to have just finished one of their books) but I’ve been told by several reliable sources that all his books are good, but Blood Meridian is The One To Read.
Comment by oe — July 24, 2007 @ 1:44 pm
I can’t wait for this movie, ever since I heard about its showing at Cannes. Tommy Lee Jones is supposed to be excellent in this but Bardem may very well steal the show.
Comment by Ross R. — July 24, 2007 @ 1:59 pm
I’ve been a long time McCarthy fan. He’s a master of incredibly graphic violence portraied in a straight sometimes terrifyingly dry voice. He is uninterested in appeasing you as the reader, he uses the proper names of common plants, doesn’t translate his spanish speaking characters, switches narrative perspective without warning or acknowledgment, and pulls now punches. He holds nothing sacred and is just as willing to reaffirm life as he is to stomp it dead in the street. No country for old men is a simple crime story with deep, expressive, brutal, quirky, honest characters. Matching this book with the Coens is a briallant move. I imagine No Country will play out like the unholy marrige of their films Blood Simple, Millers Crossing, and (perhaps strangly) Raising Arizona, but with more blood, more hopelessness and a level of cold apathy we haven’t seen in their work since the aforementioned Fargo.
If you looking to get into McCarthy The Road is a great place to start (oprah recomendation notwithstanding). I would then amp up the violence with a work like Blood Meridian or No Country. If you like what you see the border trilogy (a cycle consisting of of All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing, and Cities on the Plain) is perhaps his most complete and elegant work, evoking a west that we don’t often get to see; the same west that Peckinpah saw, but may have just been to drunk to notice.
Comment by Kevin Allen Jr — July 24, 2007 @ 2:08 pm
My spine just shivered watching that. I’m really looking forward to seeing the Coen Brothers back on good form.
Comment by Robin L. — July 24, 2007 @ 3:58 pm
I’ve only ready the border trilogy, which I loved a lot. What I most remember about his writing is feeling like I really was in a place, able to smell and touch every detail yet simultaneously being impressed by his direct economical language. I wish I could learn that trick. Funny enough I walked past a bookstore today and saw a copy of The Road in the window and was kicking myself for not reading it yet. Thanks for the reminder, it’s going to be my next book now.
Comment by hhaller — July 24, 2007 @ 4:23 pm
When i heard they were doing this film (just recently), i went and bought the book. Currently reading it. Very stark and fast paced in contrast to some of his other work that i was familiar with which can be very slow paced and methodical (which does not mean they are dull…merely that they follow a more casual passage of time). Previously, i’ve read the Border trilogy and The Road….twice each. John Hillcoat, director of Ghosts…of the Civil Dead and The Proposition, is in development to direct a film adaptation of McCarthy’s The Road.
Comment by Steven — July 24, 2007 @ 4:27 pm
Aside from Blood Meridian (the tree of babies may remain one of the most disturbingly haunting scenes ever to be written in English), I recommend ‘Child of God’, which is a loving, sympathetic portrayal of a serial murderer and necrophiliac.
McCarthey is one of those black-sheep geniuses of the American literary scene - like Pynchon he’s an utter recluse. Apparently most of the Border trilogy was written on an old typewriter from a trailer park. He is uninterested in technology - his publisher has to hire a transcription service to get the draft manuscripts into an editable format.
Comment by Justin Marrington — July 24, 2007 @ 5:55 pm
McCarthy is most definitely a writer to take seriously, but that doesn’t exempt him from criticism. The Cities Of The Plain trilogy is tinged with male adolescent fantasy. His novels about ignorant psychopathic rednecks are just as fantastic as if they had been written about Nancy Drew. ‘Old Men’ is as full of amazing coincidences as any James Bond novel, only it’s the bad guys who are bullet-proof, not the good guys. On the other hand, I have read his ‘Red Meridian’ five times.
Comment by Mogo the Mugger — July 24, 2007 @ 6:44 pm
McCarthy rocks but skip No Country For Old Men if it’s your first book by him … it’s not one of his best. As above, Blood Median is his masterpiece. The Crossing is also a delight.
Comment by Les — July 25, 2007 @ 1:01 am
I just finished reading The Road and No Country in a row and they are both excellent. No Country reads like a mix of Larry McMurtry and George Pelecanos. Pretty darn amazing. The Road was fantastic as well. Do read them!
Comment by heartyheretic — July 25, 2007 @ 10:15 am
Man you must start with Blood Meridian, redeption through violence.
Comment by Daveyboy — July 25, 2007 @ 1:16 pm
The Road is wonderful. I am quite exited to see a new Coen Brothers film. I just saw Fargo for the first time last night and loved it. I also recently watched The Big Lebowski and loved that too.
Comment by innocent — July 25, 2007 @ 2:56 pm
I have been a McCarthy fan for some time, and I love both The Road and No Country. No Country seems to have been written for the express purpose of being made into a Coen Brothers movie. I agree with the earlier poster about Blood Simple x Miller’s Crossing… not sure about Raising Arizona.
From his earlier work, Suttree is my very favorite and I read it about once a year. It’s not nearly as violent and is considerably more lyrical in places than the other novels that have been mentioned here, all of which I also enjoyed.
Comment by Matt — July 26, 2007 @ 3:17 pm
Read the book when I heard the Coen brothers had made the movie which was raised at Cannes but did not win awards due to the violence and lack of character arc or comeuppance for the relentless villian. Hard to believe this could be made into a movie considering how much of the book is in one character’s head and how no-one is safe from the carnage. Kinda depressing. Looking foward to the movie though.
Comment by lee — July 26, 2007 @ 4:05 pm
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Blood Meridian was one of the most amazing reads ever. Scary violent, though. Cows falling…
Really fun read.
Comment by Mac — July 26, 2007 @ 4:36 pm
I found my way here from Boing Boing, since I couldn’t resist another chance to see that trailer. Let me add my voice to the chorus insisting that you read “No Country for Old Men.” The scene at the gas station (what’s the most you ever lost on a coin toss?) is the scariest conversation I’ve read in a long, long time, and I’m hoping the Coens will do the book justice. From the trailer, of course, all signs point to yes.
Comment by Penh — July 26, 2007 @ 4:51 pm
uhm . . . odd timing - but i just read and then wrote a review (of said reading) of McCarthy’s “The Road.”It was the first of his books that I had ever read. I enjoyed it thoroughly . . . I also tend to enjoy the Coen Brothers (a bit more than) thoroughly . . . so now I will (maybe I think that I will) sit and wait in anticipation of this (here) movie.
Until then - I recommend reading “The Road.”
Comment by N. Bumpercar — July 26, 2007 @ 5:54 pm
Blood Meridian
Comment by dickens — July 26, 2007 @ 7:26 pm
I can not believe that no one has mentioned Suttree…..far and away my favorite McCarthy novel,,,if he has written a simple novel No country for old men is it….perfect for a movie.
Comment by david — July 26, 2007 @ 8:42 pm
Blood Meridian, absolutely.
Comment by Drew — July 26, 2007 @ 10:13 pm
Dude, you must read No Country! It’s quite good and I’m sooo happy that the Coens are doing the film. A perfect fit!
Comment by Bill — July 26, 2007 @ 11:26 pm
Blood Meridian is a work of genius. It’s extremely dense and beautiful. I read maybe 20 pages at a sitting and was blown away consistently. It is by far his best book.
No Country For Old Men is written in a style very similiar to The Road, very sparse. You could probably read the whole thing in three hours. Frankly, it’s not that great a story. It’s the telling that makes it any good at all. Reading it, I figured no one would think to make it into a movie considering how it ends. It’s just too empty; not enough happens. Yet knowing the Coens decided to make it, it seems like a perfect fit. It’s like reading a treatment for a Coens’ movie, almost. Watching the trailer, it’s identical to the book. Every line of dialogue is taken from the book. Could be a very good movie, and indeed a return to form for the Coens, who’ve been making an awful lot of shit since Barton Fink.
Comment by rqz — July 27, 2007 @ 2:17 am
Yup, Blood Meridian is the one if you want a maximalist dark western - blood-bathed, apocalyptic, and full of beautiful landscapes. That said they’re all good. Earth’s ‘Hex..’ album is based on Blood Meridian.
Comment by David Forehead — July 27, 2007 @ 9:05 am
Blood Meridian is the one to reach for, it’s really dark & will hijack your imagination for a few days.
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Regardin Justin’s comment above: he’s not really a recluse. In fact, he just did a huge interview with Oprah, which is like the very opposite of being a recluse. As far as an imagined aversion to technology: he ain’t exactly a luddite; he regularly chills with scientists.
Regarding Mogo’s comment:
“His novels about ignorant psychopathic rednecks are just as fantastic as if they had been written about Nancy Drew. ‘Old Men’ is as full of amazing coincidences as any James Bond novel, only it’s the bad guys who are bullet-proof, not the good guys.”
No, that’s actually flat-out wrong. People of all stripes get hurt and get killed and survive in his books, without much rhyme or reason. He’s not indulging in wishful thinking about invincible psychopaths, he’s just calmly describing chaotic people living in a chaotic universe. Sometimes folks die, sometimes they live.
Blood Meridian is my favorite of his books. You should read that.
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I read Child of God and The Road. The Road was my favorite, I loved it despite the fact that it really depressed me. I guess I have too much imagination and can actually conceive of the world ending up that way.
Comment by Antonin — October 22, 2007 @ 1:25 pm
I agree with David (July 26) - ‘Suttree’ is probably McCarthy’s best - read it and know what it’s really like to be there. He doesn’t just describe stuff, he makes you live it.
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Comment by sandrar — September 10, 2009 @ 5:38 pm