'No Country for Old Men', based on Cormac McCarthy's novel, will certainly be one of the best movies of the year. I've watched every scrap of footage from this movie I've been able to get my eyes on and I get the feeling this piece is cut with the same precision as the Coen Brothers' earlier gems 'Fargo', and 'Blood Simple' -- cinematically secure with lean dialogue that breathes on its own and characters that can't be taken lightly.
The character I like the best is the killer -- Anton Chigurh, portrayed beautifully by Javier Bardem. He reminds me of the shark in 'Jaws' except he is far more compelling. That shark simply killed whoever had the bad luck to be in the vicinity, while Chigurh hunts a specific target (and ignores bystanders). It's this application of intellect that makes him so frightening -- he has a motive, while a shark does not.
Chigurh engages victims in a game of chance, flipping a coin and asking them to 'call it'. He kills with an especially brutal weapon, a gun which fires compressed air, which is both gruesome and intimate -- one must be quite close to their target to kill with such a device. Bardem convinces. Chigurh's voice is flat and lifeless but his eyes betray roiling emotions that must be controlled (he is not crazy after all, simply a man on a quest to satisfy a vendetta, and to lose control of his emotions wouldn't do). Let's be clear: Chigurh is sociopathic, not psychopathic.
The Coens and Bardem have brought this character to life, made him a very real thing. They've done so well I fully expect to turn a corner and see Chigurh walking up the street toward me, his eyes fixed and flat like a shark's. He deserves his own award. I propose a 'Best Character' statuette for Anton Chigurh -- although I wouldn't want to be the one that hands it to him.
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