eden’s film blog

 - movie initially makes us believe that we'll see the 'good guy' defeating the 'bad guy' and walking away into the sunset with the bag of cash - we realise no one was really 'good' and that they were merely after the drug money - character arcs relitavely resolved - unepected and unsatisfying but still resolved as ed tom bell dream thing suggests hes come to terms with end of life/retired now and is old - death is the resolve, chigurh does his job, they all die - chanceand fate - coin toss - she doesnt call it, taking his power from him, her death is honourable - she talks abt not having money - he reasures her its temporary - 2fold giving her peace of mind and telling her shes gon die  - all about acceptance of death - girl makes him realise its actually him himself who is bringer of death - in that moment he has to accept it, maybe question his morals etc, uses coin /fate as an excuse - cosmically punished as an agent of chaos - will he die? last we see o...

The scene is uncomfortably slow, lengthy and awkward. In this way the audience is encouraged to feel for Chigurh as the shopkeeper is clearly irritating him - Chigurh speaks clearly and concisely which could put the audience on edge and curious as to what his next move is, whereas the shopkeeper's responses are slow so the director may be encouraging us to share Chigurh's feeling of irritation and impatience. We already have the knowledge that Chigurh is murderous and impulsive, but the shopkeeper does not know this, so he communicates with him as he would any regular man. The scene implies that Chigurh does not approve of the fact that the man married into his lifestyle therefore perhaps he believes people should work for what they have - he may think the shopkeeper is lucky and all he owns is down to luck, doing nothing to get to where he is now so he is undeserving of it. The repeated OTS shots add to the feeling of length of the scene, also giving a feel that something is a...

 At the beginning of the scene, the shots are tranquil and quiet - the landscape is desolate. The audience is instantly aligned with Sheriff Bell as he is narrating at this point.  When we are first introduced to Chigurh, we see a wide shot of him being taken to a police car, then a mid shot in which he is facing away from the camera - in this way alignment is avoided, we have only seen his back and his weapon. The cut to the weapon could suggest it's important, foreshadowing his later use of it. He remains out of focus until he's on the floor, the camera zooming into his face as he strangles a police officer to death - this immediately presents him as the violent force of evil. The way that he washes the blood off his wrists as if it's an everyday action is telling of his character and lifestyle. His first dialogue is threatening, as well as his expression. His voice is slightly monotone and he is smirking as he shoots the man in the head. This tells the audience that he f...