No Country for Old Men

No Country for Old Men, written and directed by both Joel and Ethan Coen in 2007 is a film about violence and mayhem set in 1980 rural Texas. The story grabs you right from the start as one of the main characters Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) is standing within a barren landscape watching the thick clouds cover the ground like a blanket while he hunts for deer. He then stumbles across a murder scene where by many Mexican men had been shot. As Llewelyn explores further he realised one of the men are still alive, however he coldly shrugs it off leaving with only his gun. As he explored the area further he comes across a lone man, again murdered, but this time with a briefcase full of money. At ease he takes the money and makes he way home.

From this point forward things become a bit difficult for him. He sleeps restlessly and decided to return to help the wounded man but gets chassed off and shot by what i can only assume are poachers. He decides that he should send his wife away to safety while he runs away with the stolen money.

Meanwhile we are introduced to another main character, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) who’s main attribute is murdering innocent civilians on the hunt for Llwewlyn and the money.

We as the audience become confused when Anton always manages to find Llewelyn until it comes to light that there is a tracker in the case of money. When they finally meet there is a 'shoot off' where both become injured then going off to seek medical attention. Shortly after they share a phone conversation when Anton threatens to kill Llewelyn's wife if he fails to bring him the money. Not long after this we are shown Llewelyn murdered on the floor around others which i find very disappointing after such a long chase as we are not shown the point in which they meet or how he was killed. 

At this point in the film i feel that the story line takes a nose dive. The suspense that we have felt throughout the whole film for Llewelyn is just ruined. Anton visits Llewelyn's wife but we are not shown what happens to her. Anton drives off and gets dramatically hit by a car and manages to walk off almost unharmed and the film ends with one of the sherifs who has been chasing Anton retiring. I found this very disappointing as the whole film builds up to what you expect will be a spectacular ending but instead your just left with loads of lose ends. 

Although i didn't think much of the storyline, there were part in the film that inspired me for this project. 

5 minutes in there was a beautiful scene where the main character stands at a great hight looking over the landscape which is being sculpted by the clouds. 

56 minutes in Llewelyn is sitting in an old hotel room lit by only one light. This scene really reminds me of the work by Francoise Laroix and i would love to recreate this scene.

141 minutes though there is a dramatic scene where the sherif enters a house and his shadow is projected on the the wall. 

And lastly 148 minutes through, Anton is sat in Llewelyn's wife's house right back in the corner with only window light over his knees emphasising his power and mystery.