If you’ve got unanswered questions about No Country for Old Men, hate Joel and Ethan Coen’s controversial film ending, or love to dissect the themes of fate and humanity at the core of the Cormac McCarthy adaptation, check out the official podcast discussion between a few of the web’s leading pundits!
Over the holiday break I was offered the chance to podcast my thoughts on No Country for Old Men, the Coen brothers’ excellent thriller of an adaptation of Cormack McCarthy’s novel, which I saw at its Cannes debut and was promptly blown away by. While it’s delightful enough that a hyped-up festival film actually delivers upon premiering, No Country went much further. With its brilliantly balanced interplay of evil incarnate killer Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), old-world lawman Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), and the opportunist hunter Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin), who lies somewhere in between — not to mention the beautifully-shot, bone-dry West Texas landscape and a typical Coen-esque touch of black humor – No Country for Old Men became the first film of 2007 that I had to see again.
I wasn’t alone, of course. Critics Glenn Kenny (Premiere.com), Harry Knowles (Ain’t It Cool News), and Jim Emerson (Chicago Sun-Times/Roger Ebert.com) also had plenty of thoughts brewing, and we bounced around an in-depth No Country discussion with Elvis Mitchell moderating the podcast. Check it out here to hear our talk about topics like the controversial ending of the film, the Coen brothers’ work, parallels between the film and their 1987 comedy Raising Arizona, themes of fate and humanity, what Moss, Bell and Chigurgh represent, and more observations that engrossed movie geeks make when they’re particularly excited to deconstruct a film. But be warned, the discussion contains spoilers!
Listen to the podcast here, and share your own thoughts on No Country for Old Men below!
