On Screen

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

Starring Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem. Written by Joel and Ethan Coen from the novel by Cormac McCarthy. Directed by Ethan and Joel Coen. (14A) 123 min. Opens Nov 9.

Sometimes a little quiet makes a big difference. Putting this maxim to the test, the Coen brothers declined to put a musical score on their new adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's grisly neo-western. The silences force audiences deeper into the beautifully barren West Texan landscapes on display, as well as the ugly skull-duggery of the people scrambling amid the tumbleweeds.

Easily the Coens' least self-indulgent and most satisfying outing since The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men has barely an ounce of fat on it. At the heart of this dark tale is Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), a down-on-his-luck dude who takes a whack of dough off some drug dealers he finds dead out on the plain. By doing so, he incurs the wrath of Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), a fate-obsessed, cattle-gun-toting psycho who kills everyone in between him and the money. The rapidly mounting pile of bodies leaves a local sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones) feeling mighty weary and a mite philosophical.

Serving the source to the best of their considerable abilities, the Coens preserve the vein of fatalistic humour in McCarthy's original while ratcheting up the tension. Though the violence – of which there is plenty – is abrupt and horrific, it's the silence that stays with you after the killing's through.

JASON ANDERSON

EMAIL LETTERS@EYEWEEKLY.COM