"No Country for Old Men"

A connected friend of mine had extra sneak-preview passes to see the Coen Bro's latest: No Country for Old Men last night, and I cleared my calendar (which, in effect, means I recorded "The Office") and joined them for the early look at this film.

I knew early on that this was not going to be a chuckle-fest, a la "Raising Arizona" or "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" It would be a serious, and violent epic.

And it is.

I don't think I've ever seen a more realistic portrayel of a sociopath than Javier Bardem's character Anton Chigurh. His haunting visage is something I will not forget soon, that's for sure. The film's central theme dances around the idea that the modern world has gone terribly awry, articulated best by the soon-to-retire Texas sheriff Ed Tom Bell, played by Tommy Lee Jones.

The film has some very Coen-branded moments of dark humour. I'm not sure they're capable of making a film without some form of comic-relief.

Leave the kids at home.