NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN: Getting to know Chigurh and Moss

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 about to happen for example Chigurh shooting the shopkeeper. However, the only break we get from the repeated OTS shots is the closeup of a wrapper un-scrunching loudly. This could be symbolic of Chigurh's feelings towards the man unravelling - he is becoming increasingly annoyed at him as he scrunches up the wrapper, clenching his fist in the process. Also, the closeup and loud noise has the added effect of making the wrapper seem slightly sinister, this shows how Chigurh can take an ordinary item and make it into something threatening.

Throughout the scene, it's clear Chigurh is the one in control of the conversation even though he is in the shopkeepers shop - you would assume that the customer would not be the one in control - therefore the audience is shown that he is manipulative and knows how to manipulate other people's thoughts. 

- must have some sense of justice 'u have to call it it's only fair' or smth - makes him more scary and unpredictable - moral code 

- beating around bush not actually stating he's gonna kill him doesnt seal his fate

- could imply that he sees human life as trivial as he decided the shop keeper's life was all down to a coin toss.

- quarter could be a metaphor for himself - not so different from the others - 'just another quarter' 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Buster Keaton 'One week' and 'The scarecrow' analysis

One week meaning is created in the frame itself, rather than through editing or cuts editing is extremely minimal, as invisible as possible, only present when completely necessary editing used is all for functional purposes rather than to create meaning; for example the opening shot cuts briefly to a close up of a new character before cutting to another long take of them getting in the car. so used to advance the plot rather than have an effect on how the audience view the events. the framing fits the size of the joke, mostly wide shots to show all the action happening, closest shot is the medium shot towards the end majority of, if not all Keaton's emotions and expressions are expressed through exaggerated body language and movement  size contrast is as a comedic effect - Keatons small stature is used to an advantage vs tall fatty man Keaton uses several silent comedy conventions - stuns, falls, special effects, chase sequences, set design, using mis en scene for jokes breaks 4th...
Read more

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN: questions to consider

Do you find the ending of the film to be satisfying resolution ?  Why ? it was not a satisfying resolution at all - the audience does not see any conflicts resolved between Llewelyn and Anton How were you expecting the film to end ?   I was expecting there to be an ending fight scene in which either one of them dies and maybe Sheriff Ed Tom Bell gets involved in some way. Also for there to be a triumph on either sides it was quite ambiguous throughout the film as to who would get the money to succeed. Why do you feel the Coen Brothers decided to have their main protagonist killed offscreen , and then avoid a final climax between Sheriff Bell and Chigurh ?  Consider the effect on the audience in terms of expectations of genre and narrative,  and the  themes of  law and order v criminality , good v evil , heroism etc. I think that the reason the Coen Brothers decided to end the film in this way is because they wanted to demonstrate the idea that as peopl...
Read more