chrismorrell Blog

We were quite a way behind in the U.K with the release date..and i tell ya,i nearly got "podcasted out" ,i heard so much discussion about this film..i just couldnt get myself to the Cinema to see it...

"The Big Lebowski" probably remains my favourite Coen bros film,but aside from that..To get a handle on the territory that "No Country.." covers i went back to "Blood Simple" ,and then lowered my expectations..as in,i heard all the esoteric stuff about the "times a changin"  late seventies,feel that is obviously more easily implied in the novel...which ,i get ..y'know,these are "out in the sticks" type people with the drugs trade over the border entering there world and seeming to bring unfathomable violence..and,of course we know,"they aint seen nothin yet"... However,the main ,unstoppable psycho-killer character is a "law unto himself" anyway..a "dice-man",a "flip of the coin" man ,in this case..we dont know where he comes from,or where he's going. (Check out Cinema Rian below.)...The Coen's "break the rules" towards the end...which i liked..Resolution or "closure"is not what they give us,least of all with the character we have invested most in... The killer?who cares what he does? or what fateful accident might befall him?..Then ,finally the narrative evaporates entirely, like Bell's short-term memory..  I embraced the melancholy,but couldnt help missing the dark steamy "Blood Simple" humour...

'Very Rashomon' ,or 'Rashomonlike' has become a shorthand movie term,of course...and it's not difficult to see why...the concept of the multi-perspective story, entered the mainstream cinema language...

Some of the aspects of some of the story threads may seem arcane ,or incredibly corny,but that would be to critcise them completly out of context...drawn together by the three 'misfits' sheltering from the rain,the conclusion is incredibly contrived,but ,somehow,also, amazingly moving