I like the Coen brothers and thought “No Country for Old Men” was a fine example of their take on laconic modern westerns. Like the “Man with No Name“ series it has a languid and iconic feel. Javier Bardem was great. Dog in the river was great. The ending was a little indecipherable. And yet …. It was all a little predictable . In contrast I thought “There will be Blood” was an absolute masterpieceLeaving aside the virtuosity of Daniel Day Lewis’s performance it had a tight focus that dealt with an incredibly wide sweep of concepts; Greed, redemption, capitalism, religion, family, society….. I was just blown away by it. It is one of those films that seems to polarise views. Everyone is amazed by Daniel Day Lewis but a sizeable percentage of reviews, friends etc do not really rate the film. It is true the film does not work without Daniel Day Lewis yet the approach of narrowing the focus to target large subject works perfectly.
Similar to “The Crying Game” , which I hated, it will be a film to polarise opinion.
