When I saw the trailers for No Country For Old Men, a film adaptation by the Coen brothers of the novel by Cormac McCarthy, I thought it'd be a film about a serial killer set in a present day spaghetti western. Javier Bardem portrays Anton Chigurh, a ruthless serial killer who did not beg, but certainly borrowed, stole, and mutilated everyone in his path. His method is to simply kill on the spot or flip a coin and coerce his victims to choose heads or tails, as if their fate led him that much closer to his treasure; a black bag holding a million dollars in drug money. Corruption is rampant, connecting border patrol and police, Mexican coyotes, and all the ones caught in between. Tommy Lee Jones plays Ed Tom Bell, a seasoned county police chief who is condemned to end his career, haunted by a sociopathic killer who will always be on his trail. Anton Chigurh seems to appear out of nowhere, as if he is a ghost or, as he would like to be considered; a grim reaper who decides when and how his victims die.
November 21, 2007
May 22, 2005
Walker Film Festival
Ernesto and I spent some time, in between films, in the sculpture garden. I still miss those politically-charged, headless soldiers standing at attention next to the brick wall by Magdalena Abakanowicz. Unfortunately, they were not intended to be part of the permanent collection. Too strong a subject for a Midwestern audience perhaps?
We've seen a lot of films at the Walker this month during the film festival honoring women in the director's chair. "Writer of O" is a documentary about Dominique Aury, the French author and publicist who wrote the "scandalous" erotic novel "Story of O". After forty years of secrecy, she revealed that she was the author. She was quoted to have said that after so many years, now an elderly lady of ninety years, the scandal had less of a sting.
Last night, we saw the film "Yes" by Sally Potter, starring Joan Allen and Simon Abkarian. I loved this film because, even though it was done in six weeks on a tight budget, the cinematography was incredibly creative, merging images in slow motion to convey dream sequences that meshed very well with its abstract, poetic dialogue. There was always a secondary presence of the "cleaning staff" who knew what was going on, talking directly to the camera, much like the Tilda Swinton character in "Orlando". Joan Allen was on hand after the film. She was very tall with long blonde hair and, just like anyone in film, she looked much thinner in person. She seemed very friendly and non-pretentious. Then again, she's a great actor, so we'll never know!
