THE CURBSIDE CRITERION: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

(Here at Hammer to Nail, we are all about true independent cinema. But we also have to tip our hat to the great films that continue to inspire filmmakers and cinephiles alike. This week, Brad Cook takes a chance with fate with the Criterion 4k Blu-Ray release of the Coen Brothers masterpiece No Country for Old Men.)
Most of us get to grow old and see the world change in ways we probably never imagined. I’m 54 years old and have a one-year-old granddaughter whose childhood will be radically different from mine.
Will it be better? I find such comparisons silly, to be honest. Every generation grows up with its pluses and minuses. Sure, some walk through fire, like the ones who fought in the two world wars, but there are some things from my younger years that I miss and others that I’m glad are gone.
I’ve always felt that was the point of the Coen brothers’ No Country for Old Men, based on the Cormac McCarthy novel. Set in 1980, it opens on one of the most sociopathic characters ever shown on film: hitman Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), who enjoys deciding the fate of random people with a coin toss and often uses a captive bolt pistol, normally used on livestock, to kill them.
Elsewhere, Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) is hunting in the Texas desert when he discovers the aftermath of a drug deal in which the parties involved shot each other. He finds a satchel with $2.4 million in it.
One man clings to life, asking for water, and Llewelyn tells him he has none, but he wakes up later that night, his conscience having gotten the best of him, and goes back into the desert to bring the man water.
Unfortunately for him, a truck full of men have arrived to inspect the carnage, and soon Llewelyn finds himself running for his life. He escapes, but he knows the men will discover where he lives, so he sends his wife, Carla Jean (Kelly Macdonald), to stay with her mother while he goes on the run.
Even more unfortunately for him, Anton Chigurh has been hired to find the missing money by tracking a transmitter hidden in the satchel. Along one parallel plot path, sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) begins investigating the murders of the men out in the desert, and along another parallel plot path, bounty hunter Carson Wells (Woody Harrelson) seeks out Llewelyn to offer him protection in exchange for the money.
These plot lines crisscross each other in various ways, with the Coens deftly ratcheting up the tension during acts two and three. You can quibble that perhaps some characters don’t get treated as well as they should (one offscreen death kind of bugs me, to be honest), but No Country for Old Men is a movie that still stands up, 17 years after its release.
Getting back to my earlier point: I think the movie is trying to say that every generation reaches a point where they have trouble understanding the world and the people who inhabit it. I know I’ve gotten to that point in my life, but that doesn’t mean I think the year 2024 is necessarily any better or worse than the 70s and 80s, when I grew up.
This new 4K Ultra HD edition of the movie from Criterion features a fresh 4K digital master approved by director of photography Roger Deakins, and I can say, yes, it looks fabulous. (And, yes, in my head I hear the last part of that sentence in the voice of one of Billy Crystal’s Saturday Night Live characters.)
There’s no commentary track for this one, per usual with the Coens, so the movie occupies the 4K platter by itself. However, you also get a Blu-ray with the film and a nice batch of bonus features. The first two items in the list below were newly created for this edition.
• Joel and Ethan Coen with Megan Abbott (41 minutes): The first new extra features the brothers looking back on the film in a chat with author Megan Abbott, from their thoughts about the source material to the challenges they faced during production. I didn’t mention the movie’s dark humor during my review, but don’t worry — it gets its due here.
• Roger Deakins and David Diliberto (34 minutes): The director of photography and associate producer, respectively, also talk to Megan Abbott about the film, although this is audio-only with visuals from the film to demonstrate what’s being discussed.
• Interviews with the Cast (25 minutes): The first archival extra serves up Bardem, Brolin, Jones, and Macdonald talking about their characters. The interviews were conducted to promote the movie, so you won’t find anything particularly meaty here.
• An Incredibly Unauthorized Documentary (10 minutes): Josh Brolin shot this during the making of the movie, and it’s a very amusing, tongue-in-cheek look at the production as if the Coen brothers were horrendous tyrants. Hey, that’s what they get for not being verbose directors. Ha ha.
• The Making of No Country for Old Men (25 minutes): Consisting of a lot of onset footage, this extra takes its title literally. If you want to get inside the minds of the Coens while they were making this movie, the interview with Megan Abbott is as close as you’ll get.
• Working with the Coens (25 minutes): Some cast and crew members chat about their relationships with the brothers. This one is more serious than Brolin’s bootleg documentary, of course.
• Diary of a Country Sheriff (7 minutes): Tommy Lee Jones’ character gets the spotlight here, which makes sense since he’s the story’s moral center. In the end, all he can do is try to deal with the craziness swirling around him as best he can and then retire, more or less in one piece. That’s pretty much all any of us can do.
The trailer rounds out the platter, and the obligatory Criterion booklet has a pair of essays. This one is highly recommended, of course.
– Brad Cook (@BradCWriter)
Criterion 4k Blu ray;Coen Brothers; No Country for Old Men movie review