Film Analysis: No Country For Old Men

The recurring image of turning gears and clocks in the film is noteworthy.The constant ticking of the clocks, present throughout the movie, gives the viewer a very vivid awareness of time passing.Like the drunken Uncle Claude tells Hugo, “Time is everything.” This is effectively portrayed by the plight of Georges Melies (Ben Kingsley).Time has stolen everything from him, and only a broken shell of a man is left in his place.He struggles to come in terms with the current times, where his life’s work is reduced to nothing but a pair of shoe heels.

The movie I watched is Lincoln. This movie is about President Abraham Lincoln’s struggles to free all slaves permanently before the Civil War ended. The movie is set in 1865, just after Lincoln was reelected. Lincoln is faced with a moral dilemma. His goal is to pass the amendment to ban slavery forever, but if the war ends before he can do this he’ll never get the opportunity. As he pushes to get the votes he needs to secure the bills passing a peace offer is brought forth by the Confederates. Lincoln must now decide to either end the war now and save thousands of lives or to delay the end of the war and have the chance to save not only current lives but also future lives from a life of slavery.

The final scene of Jean-Luc Goddard’s Breathless (1960) is one of the most memorable scenes of the film. Not only does it portray the conventions of new wave cinema but it also depicts the existentialist themes that are presented throughout. New wave cinema was typically low budget and this is presented in the climactic scene of Breathless. The scene was shot on location and included a lot of jump cuts and disjointed editing. However, despite appearing to be unprofessional and unpolished, Breathless evokes a sense of harsh realism that is present in contemporary relationships. The final scene also symbolises the end of Michel (Jean-Paul Delmondo) and Patricia’s (Jean Seberg) ill-fated partnership and signifies the end of their attempt to find happiness and love within one another.

Imagine the world is invaded by aliens. Some of them eat humans, some live among humans, and others live outside of our world. You don’t know it, but many of the people who have shaped our lives and our culture aren’t even human themselves. This is the world of the 1997 film Men in Black, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. Men in Black is a sci-fi comedy about a group of enforcement agents defending and regulating aliens from invading Earth. But if you take their costume off, Men In Black can be seen as far more than a comedy about space aliens. Under the lens of postcolonial criticism, the film reveals itself to be a veiled, political commentary on immigration. A lens is a way for us to look at a piece of literature in a whole new depiction that we may not have thought of the first time we had read or watched a piece of literature. Through the postcolonial lens, I can see the movie as a biased contrast between the immigrants and the immigration police. Interpreting the movie through this lens allows me to see that the Men in Black are the immigration police, and are considered to be the protagonists of the film. On the other hand, the aliens, or immigrants when looking through the lens, are the antagonists of the movie; The Men in Black protect the US from bad aliens, giving immigration police the positive reinforcement of the brutal evictions immigrants received in the 90s.

In Cormac McCarthy’s “No Country For Old Men,” fate plays a significant role in the novel and is present in the lives of each of the characters he portrays. Fate, as defined in the dictionary, is “the will or principle or determining cause by which things in general are believed to come to be as they are or events to happen as they do.” The theme of fate is demonstrated in all of the characters in the novel, but most evidently in Llewellyn Moss, Ed Tom Bell, Carla Jean, Carson Wells, and Anton Chigurh. Fate is the main difference that lies between all of these characters. In his interactions with other characters, Anton Chigurh continually suggests that each and every choice we make determines our fate.

The following work aims to take a closer look at cultures, leadership and paradigms in Columbia Pictures’ (1992) film; A Few Good Men. This film provides many examples of differing cultures as well as illustrating examples of leadership, management, and followership. Many lessons can be learned; standing up for what is right and standing up for what you believe in are apparent, as well as leaders not always making the best decisions. At the end of the day, one must be at peace with the direction of their own moral compass and actions.

Sabina Berman is a notable and critically acclaimed Mexican playwright. Berman’s notable work includes her first published play, Yankee (1979). In Adam Versényi’s translation of Yankee, Berman explores the relationship between the individual and identity. Through the three main characters—Bill, Alberto, and Rosa—we see the continual conflict they face as they aspire to achieve their respective objectives: to feel nurtured and loved, to have peace and quiet, and to feel loved and acknowledged. But it is Berman’s interjection of juxtapositions that forces us to analyze the relationship between the main characters. More specifically, Berman focuses on the impact Bill has as an intruder, and how he highlights the national identity incompatibilities between North American and Mexican cultures, to expose the serious social and political problems between the nations.

The question is whether No Country for Old Men and Stagecoach provide adequate examples of the decline in American moral values. From my perspective of today’s world and my interpretation of No Country for Old Men and Stagecoach, I can see how the argument could be made that they have declined or haven’t changed at all. I see a difference between the relationship of Ringo and Dallas vs other members of their traveling group compared to Sheriff Bell vs Chigurh. These relationships, in my opinion, explains a lot about the development of moral values, or lack of, in the western United States. In this paper, I will describe the moral values that are represented in each movie and I will also try to describe my understanding of why American moral values may have declined between No Country for Old Men and Stagecoach.

The movie “Gone with the Wind” is about a rich southern girl named Scarlett O’Hara and her life hardships set during the time-period of the Civil War. In the story, Scarlett is forced to watch helplessly as her family’s wealth and lives fade as the confederacy loses the Civil War. Even though, the movie is mainly centered on the dilemmas of Scarlett’s love life, there are many historical accuracies that immerse the viewer in the southern mindset as well as the timeframe. The portrayal of class structures and the confederate attitudes before the Civil War are both accurate and engaging details that the movie successfully implements. In the film, these examples are displayed mainly through the dialogue and setting.

Cinema of Attractions is concerned with the ability to display. Attractions wanted to show the ‘here and now’, interacting with its spectator with the aim of satisfying the audience’s curiosity quickly (Gunning, 2004: 44). It displays current events, scenes form everyday life, composed scenes, vaudeville performances and also camera tricks (as pioneered by George Méliès). Cinema of Attractions aims to astonish its audience (Strauven, 1999: 50). through displaying, rather than amusing its audience through narrative content. This is seen in films such as G. Méliès’ ‘ L'homme-orchestre (One Man Band)’ (1900), or his ‘L'homme à la tête de caoutchouc (The Man With The Rubber Head)’ (1901) where the actor(s) constantly address the camera/spectator and the audience is

The award winning film, No Country for Old Men, adapted from Cormac McCarthy’s 2007 novel, is a riveting tale of a brutal chain of events related to money, murder, and drugs, which rolls through West Texas in the 1980’s. Told through the perspective of the stories three main characters – a soulless killer, an old time sheriff, and an experienced country boy – both the novel and the film keep the audience anxiously waiting for the next gun fight or brutal killing. Amazingly, the film’s adaptation, directed by brothers Ethan and Joel Coens, manages to capture the themes and overall essences of the novel by maintaining all distinguishing mannerisms and dispositions of the characters; while also keeping the

The film, the Untouchables, was directed by Brian De Palma. It was set in the prohibition era, which was right at the start of the 1920’s. Prohibition can be described as a law that made selling and manufacturing alcohol illegal. By putting this law into effect, it actually increased the amount of crime and violence throughout cities in the US. This was ultimately due to the rise in organized crime, also known as gangs. In the movie specifically, it was centered around the rise of the Mafia in Chicago. By looking at the production of the movie, we can see how during prohibition, the Mafia controls everything and the violence ultimately it leads to.

The untouchables is a movie based on the true events that occurred when the eighteenth amendment was passed. The eighteenth amendment established the prohibition of production, transport, and sale of alcohol. The Federal Agent Eliot Ness wants to stop Al Capone, who is the top of organized crime. It was a hard job for Eliot Ness because Al Capone with his money bought many policemen, politicians, and other important people, therefore Eliot Ness could trust anyone. Eliot Ness had to choose no more than twelve men to form his squad. The Untouchables were formed by Eliot Ness, and another nine men he picked, they were called the Untouchables because they never accepted any bribes. Al Capone One of Al Capone’s men offered Eliot Ness $2,000 to stop interfering with the organization and an additional $2,000 if he continued to cooperate. Eliot Ness’s plan was to make an impact in the income of the gangsters, so they couldn’t pay for protection. (Biography.com)

Forrest Gump is the type of movie that everyone needs to see. The movie of Forrest Gump starts in 1981, when a stranger sits next to him at a bus stop. That is when Forrest (Tom Hanks) begins to tell his life story. It all starts in the 1950s when Forrest is a young boy. He lives in Greenbow, Alabama and on the first day of school he meets a girl names Jenny Curran (Robin Wright). He does not have many friends because he has to wear leg braces to correct his curved spine. He always has a learning disability. One day he is getting chased by bullies and he starts running and the leg braces fall off, revealing that Forrest is very fast. Later on, he receives a football scholarship to play at Alabama. In 1960, he becomes one of the top running

Forrest Gump is a movie that was released in the summer of 1994 and is based on a novel by the same name that was written by Winston Groom almost a decade earlier in 1986. The movie was directed by Robert Zemeckis and produced by Paramount Pictures. The film features Tom Hanks as the main character Forrest Gump who is a slow-witted character but also has a heart of gold and is extremely courageous. The supporting cast consists of Gary Sinise (Lt. Dan), Robin Wright (Forrest’s mother) , Sally Field(Jenny) , Mykelti Williamson (Bubba), among others. In this critique I will be summarizing the plot and analyzing what I liked and disliked about the movie and whether it stands the test of time.