well, let’s just go with beirut again for the pay day song. their latest album is the only newish thing i’ve been listening to at all lately, and i have to say i’ve found myself softly moaning/wailing the refrain from a sunday smile to myself fairly often. it’s strange because at first i found that section of the song almost annoying, but then it ended up being the one that stuck hardest into my mind.

and speaking of sunday smiles, here is what i did this weekend:

no country for old men – 5 stars

this is a tough one, because it’s easy to see why most reviews of this movie could easily be, ‘a great first two thirds of a movie that ends in a disappointing non-ending’. and my first gut reaction at the pivotal moment was very much just that.

but i’m an open-minded guy, willing to see the reasoning for what might be controversial choices in telling what up to a point seemed like a fairly straightforward suspense story. plus, i love and respect the coen brothers, so my first instinct is to see the good in what they’re doing instead of dismissing it.

getting the less contentious parts out of the way first, the majority of the film is an excellent thriller. the bad guy is one of the baddest you’ll ever see, and he fucking sells it like no other. even if you don’t love the movie, it’s worth seeing just for this guy’s pure, cold-hearted deadliness. plus the supporting characters all have the coens’ famously rich local dialect and vernacular, this time of working class texans. the scenes are shot beautifully whether they’re in the wide-open brush or seedy motel rooms. and tommy lee jones is rarely a let down when taken seriously. his part adds enormously to digesting the actions of the evil character he’s after.

then there’s this breaking point, which i won’t spoil, but which throws all your expectations of how a thriller is supposed to end out the window. not in the ‘twist ending’ kind of way like seven or sixth sense; more in a way that just sidesteps entirely what you think this type of movie owes you in its final act. and that’s where the great acting and character of TLJ comes to the forefront to really sell the path the story goes for its last bit.

in the end, the satisfaction you get isn’t the tying up of a narrative arc like you’re expecting over the course of the movie. the satisfaction is in the emotional reaction to what’s happened, what you wanted to see happen, and what didn’t happen at all. you may walk out, like i did, mulling over what you just saw and finding it a little difficult to process. i think that’s part of the point. but one thing you certainly can’t say is that it wasn’t a powerful, memorable film, for which i found myself loving it despite even my own inner protests.