No Country for Old Men Deconstruction Guide

 Josh Brolin is an ideal choice to play Llewelyn Moss. He has excellent hair, huge hands, a broad jaw, a deep voice, but is not enormously muscular or anomalously tall. His mustache is convincing. Brolin is also not viewed as an oaf. We believe he has contemplative thoughts. His father, James, was a major Hollywood hunk and is Barbra Streisand’s husband. Many viewers will know Josh Brolin as the actor who played Brand in The Goonies and George W. Bush in the film W. Josh Brolin’s wife is Diane Lane, a true trophy won by uber-masculinity. Viewers will connect to him and appreciate his return to prominence in films. Interestingly, in his private life, he was suspected of beating his wife; though no charges were pressed by Lane, there is something to relate to Brolin’s character. Moss probably does not beat his wife, but is “gruff” to Carla Jean—to say the least—when he returns home with a satchel “full a money” and an expensive-looking, shiny new pistol.

 The names are interesting. Cormac McCarthy, the novelist, selected names purposefully. Certain types of people were not, are not named “Llewelyn.” The one I grew up with in Yankton was a pretty rough, tough guy. He was in fistfights pretty often and was not bound for an office job. You’ll not likely find bankers named “Llewelyn,” I’d guess. “Moss” could be a reference to the phrase “A rolling stone gathers no moss” (which is heard in the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest). This phrase means “if you do not settle down or find satisfaction, you will keep seeking adventure or ______in your attempt to become satisfied.” This may be Moss’s real problem: he is desperate for adventure, for release/escape from his welding job and trailer park living. He has a huge heart, shown by his insistence on bringing the man water, but he also knows going back is an extremely risky, even foolish excursion. He may fully know he is getting back into adventure. Subconsciously, he cannot stop himself from returning to the most interesting scene of his American life (he saw some interesting things in Vietnam, probably). “Chigurh” sounds like “sugar” (ironically, there is nothing “sweet” about it) and “chigger,” the wicked little burrower who will not stop. This bug digs under your skin and must be suffocated with finger nail polish. You do not want Anton Chigurh following you; you do not want a chigger buried under your epidermis. In a sense, Chigurh gets under your skin too!

 Joel and Ethan Coen are expert filmmakers. They are the writers and directors of many critically-acclaimed films. They make films meticulously and artfully, attempting to create the maximum effects in viewers.

“’Director’ = they direct your thinking and feeling.” –Amber Christensen quote  If given the choice, always select the “Widescreen” version of a DVD. The “Full screen” version eliminates parts of the right and left margins of camera shots. Directors get annoyed by television and “Full screen” options, both of which cut down the camera shots.

 The beginning narration is provocative. We get no visual of the narrator, but know/feel we will see him soon. Experienced movie fans will recognize the voice as Tommie Lee Jones. The sequence of landscapes offers the setting as huge, empty, beautiful. We see symbols like the windmill (which, like the old sheriff feels, is now alone and useless, reduced to a functionless decoration). Another symbol is the fence, which in some ways brought about problems: it separates and defines space as “mine” and “yours.” The wood has deteriorated, like the sheriff, replaced by the steel fence posts. The sheriff tells a horrifying story of sending a murderer to the electric chair for killing a 14 year-old girl. The sheriff is puzzled by evil, unable to comprehend how someone would openly say he’d kill again and be destined for hell and not want to change—or to be contrite. The sheriff also tells the history of various sheriffs around who he knows. He says he was sheriff at 25, the son and grandson of sheriffs.

 There is no soundtrack to this film, like there is none in real life. There is some orchestral/instrumental music, however; for example, a single, deep note energizes the gas station scene in which Anton Chigurh is making the proprietor “Call it.”

 When Chigurh cleans his hands in the sink, the camera is placed above the sink; we see only the handcuffs and his bloodied wrists. He’s not a Christ figure, though; he’s the Antichrist, Death on Foot, a Demon, Fate.

 The camera angles switch from first person to third person, from close-up to distant. All of this switching is done to create tension, suspense, and connections to characters whom we are directed to care about. We will not get a first- person view of what Chigurh is seeing, but we will for Moss and his wife. Moss’s view of the clouded window spooks us; this is the best possible angle to convey the most meaning and elicit the most response from the viewer. The most stoic watcher is nervous for Moss. The Coen brothers went to great lengths to film each shot, some of which are a second or two seconds long—all done to compel the viewer to respond.  The dialogue is spare and meaningful. A viewer should see a connection from one scene to the next. Chigurh asks the man he has just pulled over, “Would you hold still, please, sir?” Immediately thereafter, Moss says to the pronghorn, the wind, the gun, and himself, “You hold still.” A connection like this makes us predict a meeting of characters.

 The first-person view of the drugs and money is provocative. The drugs symbolize danger, decay, and wickedness. The money symbolizes freedom, opportunity, choice, influence, power, comfort. The viewer gasps at the drugs and money, while Moss remains expressionless. This is a thoughtful man. He knows the earnestness and the weight of the situation. When he loses his cowboy hat, he is seen as less dudely. His flopping hair makes his run more frantic—he looks more sympathetic, weak, scared. When he takes his boots off to swim better, he’s even further demasculinized. Moss is reduced to running/swimming from a dog, which is usually a subservient beast. The thunder is ominously rolling in during the chase scene, but it is not raining. Rain is an overused, clichéd device to add suspense, darkness, danger, and insecurity to a scene. The Coen brothers expertly avoid the use of rain at this juncture.

 The engine timing belts hanging behind the gas station proprietor’s head may have been intentionally placed by the directors. If not, they still signify nooses to the viewer, making this scene resonate with anyone who has seen this film even once. The construction equipment in the background could imply a “digging of a grave.” It is up to the viewer to infer, to make meaning. The Coen brothers allow much inference.

 Javier Bardem is brilliant as the killer. He won an academy award for his role in this film. The direction is excellent too, as we do not see his face until he is strangling the patrolman. We are puzzled by this figure in the back of the car who had an air tank with him. We see him in the background working his cuffed hands under his butt and feet. We see him approach hauntingly as the patrolman ironically says, “I got it under control.” Chigurh eyes roll back in his head and he releases an almost orgasmic breath, showing he has enjoyed the murder and exerted all his energy to control the man, who is now dead on top of him. This man is an experienced professional: he has a cattle gun to kill efficiently, cleanly; knows how to operate a police car; is able to manipulate handcuffs, and probably, subtly disallowed the cop from putting the cuffs on tight. Later, we’ll see him track expertly and wield a silenced shotgun.

 The camera creeps in this film. Carla Jean approaches her husband, who is filling a water jug in the kitchen. It is not the last time, assuredly, the camera or a character will creep up on Moss. Moss has a lot on his mind. He cannot sleep and he has forgotten his mother is dead. He tells his wife he may not return and may speak to his mother in the afterlife. Carla Jean is left in the trailer, knowing not even as much as the viewer. But he is devoted to her, it seems, as he wears his wedding ring, even while hunting. Most wedded cowboy-types I know do not wear their rings at all—too much manual work. They also don’t like a symbol of being “fenced-in” or “corralled.” Moss may take it off to weld, but he wears it to hunt, we see in the opening images. A ring may reflect light and alert a targeted animal, but Moss is loyal.