In the event that there's still a hankering amongst you all for more talk and such on No Country For Old Men, the Coen Brothers' best, and, as of a couple of days or so ago, most commercially successful, film, well, over at the movie's official website there's a podcast in which a bunch of on-line critics discuss various aspects of the film. The moderater is my friend, the suave and debonaire Elvis Mitchell (who's got a movie of his own coming to Sundance); the participants are Jennifer Yamato of Rotten Tomatoes, Jim Emerson, who's done a lot of heavy lifting about No Country over at Scanners; the needs-no-introduction Harry Knowles of Ain't it Cool News, and myself. The podcast can also be had over at iTunes.
I also recently completed a piece for the Los Angeles Times about the film's controversial ending and, among other things, how it's being treated in the picture's marketing. I'll update here when the piece appears.
I feel like I'm on the verge of getting a franchise or something. Hmmm, how else can I use this film to advance my career?
I've got it: a novelization!!! Time to call my agent. Or get an agent. Or something...
UPDATE: My Los Angeles Times piece—which, I admit, will constitute mostly old news to the regular readers of this blog—can be found here. I'm well pleased with how it turned out, although I'm not crazy about the subhed. But hey, such is newspapering. I thank my buddy and former Premiere colleague Tim Swanson for the gig, and the opportunity to spread that old Country gospel...
Under what section is the podcast located? Media? Notes on the Ending?
Posted by: Aaron Aradillas | January 05, 2008 at 02:52 PM
1. One thing I made sure to notice was that there _is_ one bit of score: as Tommy Lee Jones arrives at the motel, after the Mexicans peel out, there's an almost-synth-pad swell that you can barely hear.
2. Why didn't I think of that 7th Seal chess game? That alone brightens my appreciation for the film as it signals another inheritance (if criticism is, in part, a kind of monadic way of reading) that's really cool.
3. It's easily one of the oddest, most ambivalent, reactions I've ever had to a film. A lot of it is because its philosophy has so much despair. But if criticism is monadic reading then how do we account for how this film's philosophy play off/with their other films? (Which was what started my thinking about that COEN COUNTRY thing. There will be more of all of this during that project.)
4. One thing I find crucial to the Coens is what you say (midway thru?) about how they aren't interested in meaning. They're really great at crafting stories-as-questions with pictures.
5. _The Ladykillers_, while a trifle, is underrated. Yup.
Posted by: Ryland Walker Knight | January 05, 2008 at 04:11 PM
Aaron, it's a red banner right below the film's title on the web page after the intro. RWK, I don't remember if I mentioned this, but the "That's what they all say" bit of dialogue is in the novel, too! Also, if I said the Coens were not interested in meaning, I was wrong, or lying. What I meant is that they view the art of moviemaking the same way Kundera defines the art of the novel, or rather the function of the novel: to ask more questions, not provide answers.
Posted by: Glenn Kenny | January 05, 2008 at 04:34 PM
fair enuf. that was my understanding of your comment.
Posted by: Ryland Walker Knight | January 05, 2008 at 04:47 PM
Why would you deserve a franchise for your #2 movie of the year, pal??? Scoff.
Nice podcast though....the sound is wonky...sounds like you recorded it in My Morning Jackets grain silo.
Posted by: don lewis | January 05, 2008 at 06:29 PM
Well, Don, Miramax couldn't afford Albini's rates...
Posted by: Glenn Kenny | January 05, 2008 at 10:10 PM
Plus that Jim James-esque beard you got working.....hmmm...is there something you want to tell us?
Posted by: don lewis | January 05, 2008 at 10:50 PM
"...it's a red banner right below the film's title on the web page after the intro."
...what?
would have been nice reading your piece on No Countrys ending...but that description of where it is makes no sense...
Posted by: Alain | January 06, 2008 at 03:21 PM
aiight...i'm an idiot...
Posted by: Alain | January 06, 2008 at 03:25 PM
You're not an idiot, Alain...that webpage is getting so crowded with links that it's pretty hard to tell one from the other...glad you found what you were looking for, though...
Posted by: Glenn Kenny | January 06, 2008 at 04:54 PM