Tommy’s Film Blog

 Llewelyn Moss' final scene in No Country For Old Men is by a swimming pool outside a hotel. A woman who is sitting in a chair, in an attempt of flirting with Llewlyn, offers him a beer and asks who he is waiting for, to which he responds with his wife. Despite this, he clearly looks as if he is tempted by this woman, as he continues the conversation smiling, rather than ending it or changing the topic right there. He also says that he is "looking out for whatever's coming". When we hear this, the audience assumes straight away that he is looking out for Chigurh, like he probably does; however, this drops a subtle hint at the fact that more people may be coming for him, such as the Mexican gang, as it is revealed were the true culprits for his death. This is reinforced by the woman who says that "no one ever sees that". Llewelyn Moss seems to reach his cockiest point in this scene, as not only does he asssume he can take on Chigurh, but also he turns down th...

When we first meet Llewelyn Moss he is hunting. Hunting is a very typically masculine hobby, Later on in the film, we see Llewelyn act with toxic masculinity, for example, his need to confront and kill Chigurh himself, putting himself and eventually his wife in danger; his feeling then, that he will be ready for "anything" is disproven, as he is killed by the Mexican gang offscreen, catching both him and the audience off-guard.  The fact that he is hunting hints at this from the moment we meet his character.  Eventually, he finds a trail of blood, leading to the scene of the crime that starts most of the main events in the film. He follows it to find multiple dead bodies in what appears to be the aftermath of some gang related violence. By following this trail, his curiosity leads him into the events of the film and putting himself in the situation of being followed by Chigurh.  The first scene where we begin to get to know Chigurh as a character is the now famous coin to...

 The opening scene of No Country For Old Men contains a voiceover from Sherriff Ed Tom Bell. We never see him in this scene, and while we see Chigurh getting arrested, we do not see his face either. This makes the viewer feel like a spectator rather than that we are aligned with Sheriff Bell, as rather than seeing the context of the event play out on screen, we are having it explained to us via exposition, as told by voiceover by Bell. This is furthered by the fact that he is talking to the audience very casually, in his Texan dialect and rambles rather than giving a clear, concise explanation of the event that is taking place, as if he knows who the audience are, and is being personal with them. The overwhelming sentiment of this scene is that of the thought that "the world was better back in the day". This infamous thought and the sentiment of it is often associated with older generations, with it often being used as a punchline to stereotype elderly people. Bell's main...

I am split on the ending of No Country For Old Men. While it's the perfect conclusion to it's themes of morality, justice and changing of times; narratively it subverts all expectations of the western and thriller genres, as it denies the audience any of the resolution, closure and satisfaction any similar films that use genre tropes, such as a shootout, the case being solved, or in general, good prevailing over evil. The reason why this is such a good conclusion to the film thematically, is while there are characters who are closer to good than bad (Sheriff Ed Tom Bell), and vice versa (Anton Chigurh), the majority of the characters fall into a grey area, for example, the protagonist of the film, Llewelyn Moss. It would not make sense thematically to see such a conclusive ending, such as a shootout, when there is no clear distinction between "good" or "evil", every character falls somewhere in the middle. In fact, we see the character of Sheriff Bell, who i...

What kind of narrative are you exploring? Enigma  Five Finger Pitch- Genre: Thriller Protagonist: Detective Goal: To solve a case by looking through clues, which become increasingly ambiguous, disturbing, strange and hard to piece together. The detective can visualise the crime that took place, based on what he knows about it. Obstacle:  The clues eventually reveal that he is more closely related to the case than he had originally thought. Why is it different/important?: It is a minimalistic story on a small scale that can cover a wide scope. Biggest short film influence: The Grandmother, Meshes of the Afternoon, La Jetee

 Meshes of the Afternoon is a surrealist film that is said to use "dream logic". It does this by presenting the strange events and imagery over the course of the film directly from the perspective of the protagonist, played by the director, Maya Deren herself. One way the film is presented through her perspective is through POV shots. An example of this is when she walks up the stairs into her bedroom early in the film. There are also many other shots featuring unorthodox camera angles and movement. One of the most notable examples of this is the opening shot of the film in which she picks up a flower. This shot is simultaneously a close-up of Deren's hand, as well as a tracking shot as it moves down to pick the flower up; whereas in most conventional films we would instead see a close-up of the flower instead. In fact, a close-up that is also a tracking shot is very rare and unconventional from a film. The unconventional and unorthodox nature of this shot is important, e...

 Characters in traditional westerns, usually follow the hero/villain archetype. Usually the hero was a cowboy who was presented as brave, charismatic and strong, with no real moral faults, he would also be shown as clean cut and masculine. This is due to this being the typical, positive image of an American man, as this is what many American men will identify with and like to see themselves as. The villain, however, would be the pure antithesis of this. Unfortunately, many villains of classic westerns were often Native American, which also become a trope of westerns. In subgenres of westerns that were established later, such as the spaghetti western or the modern western, characters are usually a lot more morally grey, and often anonymous or mysterious, often reminiscent to characters from, the Film Noir genre, such as the famous "Man With No Name" from Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy. Other archetypical side characters that commonly feature in westerns include the damsel ...