No Country For Old Men

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Went to see the movie A+..gona be nominated. maybe win. Totally substantial movie. Reminscent of Fargo, with the same sorta shark type personality running amok.

Anyway in this life either your quick or your dead. Let see how fast you Boyz are. U gotta have seen the movie to answer this question. So lets get the ball arollin.

The title of the movie is a specific reference to something that happens in the movie with one of the characters. What happens that relates to the title? Now one could assume that in this land of the quick and the dead that you don't grow old. I would say thats the meaning except for the fact that the movie just drops you off and leaves the issue unresolved.

Now I didn't catch the meaning of that incident until I was halfway out of the theater and on my way to a buffet.

So this is really a test of how clever U Boyz really are.

[lowyder993s]

I'll take a stab...don't know how right I'll be...how bout when TL Jones goes and visits his father...the former sheriff and sees what is likely to be his lot in life should he stay there?

Gotta agree tho...this is a GREAT movie. Perfect for the Holidays Bardem is off the chain as Chigurg (possibly an allusion to chiggers...those nasty bastards). Some of the touches were really authentic...like Brolin using a worn boot for a gun rest. Some stuff tho not so believable...like knocking deabolts out w/ CO2...think of the shock your hand would take...if anyone has used a dummy launcher for dog training, you'll know what I mean. The sheriff's sidekick was a little too Barney Fife...I don't think the Coen's needed to make a chasm so wide as between this guy and TLJ. I've gotta go back and see it...there's ALOT I know I missed.

[BertBeagle]

Tabs - the self appointed holder of the answer. I don't think there is any deep meaning in the movie or title. Just a well done movie.

I thought it was a great movie and Fargo came to mine for me also. I believe it was the best acting job I have seen from Tommy Lee Jones - he did not try to over do the character this time as, in my opinion, he always does.

Bell was simply a man getting older and thinking retirement while chasing down the killer and Moss. He was probably telling himself "this is no place for me any longer - I need to retire" but tries to see the case to conclusion. No more or less than that - in my opinion.

[tabs]

This was too easy...you are quick and almost there... But what decision does TLJ make and the point in the movie where he makes that choich. Then the title No Country For Old Men really hits home.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by BertBeagle

Bell was simply a man getting older and thinking retirement while chasing down the killer and Moss. He was probably telling himself "this is no place for me any longer - I need to retire" but tries to see the case to conclusion. No more or less than that - in my opinion.

GAWD you are soooo warm...and have hit the nail with a glancing blow. YOur right this is no country for an old man to be in..thats half but where in the movie does he come up against it.

[nostatic]

it's actually a slow build. there isn't an "aha" moment (unless you weren't paying attention to the opening monologue, dad).

interesting that most of the builds are in cafes over food and/or coffee.

and we discussed this movie a few weeks back. Were you napping?

[lowyder993s]

Excellent blog on the movie w/ the Brothers Coen even chiming in.

http://glennkenny.premiere.com/blog/2007/12/more-no-country.html

[tabs]

Originally Posted by nostatic

it's actually a slow build. there isn't an "aha" moment (unless you weren't paying attention to the opening monologue, dad).

interesting that most of the builds are in cafes over food and/or coffee.

and we discussed this movie a few weeks back. Were you napping?

Yep sure was. But my Thread is the definative one

[tabs]

So Nostatus where was the definative moment...

[lowyder993s]

Originally Posted by tabs

This was too easy...you are quick and almost there... But what decision does TLJ make and the point in the movie where he makes that choich. Then the title No Country For Old Men really hits home.

After he goes thru the door and he is relieved (check the way he flops on the bed after checking the room) that he doesn't have to face Chigurg. That's when he gives it up.

[nostatic]

for me there wasn't. Like life it is an ebbing and flowing continuum punctuated by brief spasms of clarity.

like I said, pick any of the cafe scenes. Each of them are the windows into the inner struggle.

[nostatic]

one moment that sticks in my head is when he's having coffee with the El Paso sheriff and they're talking about kids today. But TLJ plays the whole movie pretty close to his vest. You have to read his wrinkles to see inbetween the lines.

[Dottore]

In the book - the title works as a kind of constant reflection on the loss of old values in the modern world, a loss that Bell dwells on in his various monolouges. I recall these also related to his relationship with his father in some major way.

In any case the title was pinched from Yeats. Here's the poem:

Sailing To Byzantium
William Butler Yeats
I

That is no country for old men. The young
In one another’s arms, birds in the trees
—Those dying generations—at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.

II

An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress,
Nor is there singing school but studying
Monuments of its own magnificence;
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.

III

O sages standing in God’s holy fire
As in the gold mosaic of a wall,
Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,
And be the singing-masters of my soul.
Consume my heart away; sick with desire
And fastened to a dying animal
It knows not what it is; and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity.

IV

Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by lowyder993s

After he goes thru the door and he is relieved (check the way he flops on the bed after checking the room) that he doesn't have to face Chigurg. That's when he gives it up.

Your just a scene too late in the movie....When he goes into the Bathroom of the Motel room he notices that the window latch is open and CHOOSES NOT TO GO THROUGH IT to chase the killer..for that is No Country for an old man to go enter....

TLJ does not want to wind up llike the old man in a chair or dead. He decides the better part of valor is give up the chase and retire letting the younger men do battle with evil....Yeah Baby..NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN TO GO INTO.

[tabs]

Such a sublime one that will get away from you scene is the climax to the whole movie...that why the let down is the perfect ending...

[lowyder993s]

Originally Posted by tabs

Your just a scene too late in the movie....When he goes into the Bathroom of the Motel room he notices that the window latch is open and CHOOSES NOT TO GO THROUGH IT to chase the killer..for that is No Old Mans Country.

TLJ does not want to wind up llike the old man in a chair or dead. He decides the better part of valor is give up the chase and retire letting the younger men do battle with evil....Yeah Baby..NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN TO GO INTO.

But think about the preceding 3 min of the film...Chigurg is shown in hiding...possibly in a corner...possibly behind the door that TLJ opens. Or as some of the bloggers above posited...TLJ made a choich of which door and got the "coin toss" right? Either of the two adjacent motel room doors. I agree...the ending is perfect. THere was a hushed murmur among strangers all asking for validation as I left the theatre.

[tabs]

I only saw one Motel room with the Lock knocked out and TLJ steps over the blood (Moss's). He notices the AC vent grate on the floor so the killer was in that room. Also why the open latch..if it has no meaning?

[tabs]

Now Nostatus this is why I'm the Dad and your the Son...abstract connections and how quick you can make em.