ive recently watched the coen brothers’ ‘no country for old men’ based on the novel of the same name by cormac mcarthy. it and ‘juno’ were the only movies i had left to see of the pictures nominated for the best film oscar. being a very big fan of p.t. anderson’s ‘there will be blood’ i had high hopes for this film, being that it won best picture this year. as for it being better, im still not too sure about that. i think i still feel ‘there will be blood’ is one of the great masterpieces of film that i have seen thus far in my own lifetime, but that is not to say that ‘no country’ was not a brilliant piece of filmmaking. 

the film is about many things. on the surface its about a killer chasing after a man who very simply, took his money. its a chase film. moss, our everyday west texan, found some money. anton, our killer without any sense of real motivation or moral compass for that matter, is chasing after moss. then we have the old sheriff, bell, who is barely keeping up with the two. the film is very violent, but not in any distasteful way. it is very intense, the chase never seeming to lose momentum throughout the whole film. it is also funny at times, because the coen brothers realize that no matter the genre, and they have played around with just about all of them, there is always room for humor. underneath all of this is an exquisite masterpiece about the inevitability of life.

destiny seems to be the only excuse for anton’s actions. he often times offers a coin toss to decide the fate of his victims. its as if he allows chance to choose wether or not he should kill them. but the film is about life happening. it always does. it always will. the method with which the film shows this is through violence. most of the violence is unnecessary, not within the film, but within the lives of the characters it affects. bell, our old sheriff, doesnt know what to make of this. he’s an old man. throughout the film he is realizing that the existence he knew, is changing, wether he is ready for it or not. the end (retirement, death) comes when it comes, and you have to get out of its way and deal with it. it will not wait for you, you dont get to make that choice. if its time, its time.

id like to say more to the story of this film, but wont, being that the movie is about to come out on dvd and most people still have not seen it. i will say that if you havent watched it, do, because it is easily one of the best pictures of the year. ‘there will be blood’, i believe was a better film, but it doesnt mean that ‘no country’ was not deserving of such an honor. i would go so far as to say the same about ‘atonement’, another film up for the award this year. in the end, it doesnt matter who wins those things anyway, we should just be glad that we have had the luck of seeing so many great films made this year. ‘no country for old men’ is definitely on that list. now i have to add another book to my list.

dont stop the rock.

first id like to talk about johnnie to. to is by no means new to the game of filmmaking, but he as recently made a few films that i think are worth looking into. ‘fulltime killer’ and ‘exiled’ are examples of your typical action filmmaker stepping out of mediocrity and into a master of genre filmmaking. both explore characters of such depth that their existence would seem impossible in such basic action films, unless of course, the director had a great understanding of the genre’s purpose, that purpose being, to explore these character types, as opposed to the character’s supporting the basic ‘action’ storylines. a friend once said to me, ‘character is destiny’ and in both of these films that is most definitely the case. i highly suggest seeing ‘fulltime killer’ followed by ‘exiled’ (to’s true masterpiece in my opinion). ‘fulltime’ is a classic cat and mouse action film, focusing on two assassins, both with their own set of faults that result in a brilliant climax. ‘exiled’ is a hong kong assassin film told through the lens of a classic american western. to, unlike many fellow hong kong action directors, never left his native land for america, and thank god, cause it has allowed him to progress not only to their level, but possibly beyond, continuing the tradition of ‘action’ films in his country, bringing his own innovation. both of these films are currently available of dvd. 

next we have john woo. possibly the greatest ‘action’ director to come out of hong kong. sadly though, when he left for the west, it seems he lost his edge. most of his american films are very disappointing. its been a long time since he has shown us something as brilliant as ‘hardboiled’, ‘a better tomorrow’, or ‘bullet in the head’, but things are looking good. woo’s next film is an action epic which takes place in china called ‘red cliff’. it is in cantonese. it is a predominately chinese cast (including the magnificent tony leung). things are looking good. as of right now there is no american release date for the film. the world misses you john woo. here’s to a safe return. 

finally i would like to bring your attention to wong kar-wai. a personal favorite of mine, as evidenced by the picture in this site’s heading being from his masterpiece ‘in the mood for love’. kar-wai came out of what is called the second new wave of hong kong filmmakers. these were young directors and writers who tried to approach more serious subjects in their films. film from hong kong had almost all been either ‘action’ or ‘comedy’ films. they dealt with gangsters or touching romantic comedies. their appearances were slick and somewhat streamlined. this isnt to say they were without innovation, but the second new wave presented artists with very experimental ideas on how you could make film. they were often compared to the italian neo realists after world war two. kar-wai is easily the most successful from this group. well, in april he will release ‘my blueberry nights’, his first english speaking film. i personally cannot contain my excitement about this film. kar-wai has a very distinctive visual style, dealing with heavy color use, slowed down frame rates, and a habit of isolating his characters within his shots. fine examples of this are ‘in the mood for love’, ‘days of being wild’, and ‘chungking express’. 

i hope you look into these filmmakers if you are interested in the cinema of hong kong or chinese speaking films. ill leave you with the trailer for the aforementioned ‘my blueberry nights’ by wong kar-wai. it has a limited release date of april 4th in the usa. enjoy:  

dont stop the rock