As I mentioned a few days ago, Lisa and I caught No Country For Old Men with Robin and Andy back in Madison, and it was well worth the trip to the theater. I’m not sure I’d be able to pick my favorite Coen Brothers movie (how could I?), but if I were to make the effort it would definitely have to be in the running. The acting and cinematography were great, but the sound production was what really set this movie apart. This may be the best sounding movie I’ve ever experienced, and not in the stereotypical “holy crap, did you hear that car blow up” way, either. This is a movie where socks on pavement, the hollow echo of a pressurized air canister being gently set on the ground, or the unscrewing of a light bulb (seriously) are enough to make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck, and, maybe, momentarily stop breathing.

The story is great. I’m not much of a fiction reader, but I may have to pick up the book by Cormak McCarthy. The movie is very, very dark, possibly the Coen brothers’ darkest, even when compared to Fargo or Miller’s Crossing. While there are characters that have a lot of humanity to them, they’re weak and unable (or unwilling) to fight the world around them, and grow even weaker as the plot progresses. By the end, not only has good not gained any ground, it’s actively on the retreat.

Maybe the best way to sum up the movie is to mention Lisa’s reaction–she had her eyes closed for much of the movie, and not out of boredom. It’s not a fun movie to watch, per se, but it is fascinating and wonderfully executed, and I’d definitely catch it again. 8/10.

Another contender for the Coen Brother’s darkest film would have to be their debut, Blood Simple. (It would lose, though, as humanity does manage to hold some ground.) While No Country For Old Men makes you cringe, Blood Simple relishes the opportunity to make you squirm. It’s a brilliantly painful movie, a 1980s interpretation of film noir, that at times can be exceedingly difficult to watch. Full of gullible or not-too-bright people making one exceedingly bad decision after another, the movie escalates from the bad to the horrific, with characters meeting gruesome fates along the way. As with No Country, the acting is great, and sound plays a major role in the movie (although not advancing the plot as No Country does).

It’s amazing to me this is the Cohen Brother’s first film. It is as mature and detailed as anything else they’ve ever made. Equally amazing is that it’s Frances McDormand’s first film, too. She’s fantastic in it. Or that Dan Hedaya can really act. Or that this movie was made by the same people who would go on to make The Big Lebowski of all movies… I mean, holy crap, talk about range. How the same people can make two such exceedingly different types of films is beyond me, but I’m grateful that they can.

I wouldn’t want to watch it again, but still have to highly recommend Blood Simple. (Part of me wants to give this a nine, but for some reason I can’t.) 8/10.