‘No Country for Old Men’
Joel and Ethan Cohen

19.01.10

he film, ‘No Country for Old Men’, was created by the Cohen brothers. It was a well devised thriller which kept the audience alert and on the edges of their seats. As a thriller the film consisted of many scenes which created tension, anxiety and a lot of suspense. From the beginning of the film suspense was created very subtlety – the opening credits were introduced in silence followed by single frames of the location of the film with a voiceover narration. This created suspense as it told the story however the attractive images of the countryside deceived the audience of what the film was actually about.

From the first murder, suspense was created as the audience was unaware of it happening. Firstly we were introduced to the murderer - however, the audience did not know why he was being cuffed. During the first murder, the camera focuses on the policeman on the phone (who is in the foreground) to take the attention away from the murderer (who is in the background) – who is trying to set himself free and the camera focus is blurred towards the murderer so that the audience do not pay attention to what he is doing. This then leads to the camera zooming into the murderer and his first victim being murdered. The suspense created here leaves the audience shocked that the murderer managed to escape and foreshadows that he will murder more victims.

The Cohen brothers create suspense by gradually building up to things that the audience is excited to see. For example, the build-up for the main character opening the truck door which its windows view was hidden by dust. They did this by slowing down the pace and adding low and orchestral music which built up tension. Also, they used parallel editing by showing events in two different locations both reaching for the same point. This built up suspense as the audience was anxious to see whether the hero would reach there first or the villain. The suspense is caused as the audience does not want the villain to win and there is threat that the hero will not defeat the villain – which, ironically, is the outcome by the end of the film.

Overall the Cohen brothers successfully created a film which shouted ‘suspense’ all over it; from the unexplained plot; to the mysterious murderer’s disappearance after every murder. It is what I would call the definition of a true ‘thriller’ film!