Not Joel and Ethan Coens' best film, but far from their worst, No Country for Old Men retreads the old noir ground. The Coen brothers have a strong sense of shot sequence rhythm, and they have the ear to leave some of Cormac McCarthy's dialogue intact. I hope Javier Bardem wins an Oscar for his performance as Anton Chigurh, the semi-immortal avatar of Death. No Country is most like a portrait of a desiccated landscape. This didn't seem to bother the couple who sat behind me—I know because they spent much of the film explaining the relatively simple plot to each other. The inevitability and randomness of death (or Chigurh as Death) and the alien ethics of sociopaths are displayed or mentioned again and again. These aren't exactly new themes for films rooted in noir. Blade Runner, for example—though that time the killing machine (hah!) was excellently played by Rutger Hauer, and the sociopath was Dr. Eldon Tyrell. Also, maybe, the sociopath was future society? Come to think of it, just like No Country, Blade Runner also had a taste for the nihilistic and an unresolved ending! No Country doesn't make many mistakes, and its self-conscious apocalyptic tone is somewhat fresh, but the Coen brothers are more innovative when they are more playful.
Baumbach has made another film about problematic family dynamics. Margot at the Wedding is well acted: Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh are always good, and Jack Black draws authenticity and charm out of his role as a big baby who always wants to fuck his fiancé. Some moments in Margot are well scripted and well shot, but overall the film falls short. Just displaying a collection of flawed characters can't substitute for beauty of language, either spoken or visual.
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