No Country for Old Men
Might be one of the most outstanding movies I have ever seen.
Ugh.
Of course you did.
What is that supposed to mean?
I have legitimate grievances, like how you don’t even know the protagonist’s name until well into the film; how Woody Harrelson’s character’s sideplot was completely pointless; how the climax of the film happens offscreen; how depressing the ending was; or how I felt duped into watching it because it was nominated for eight Oscars while winning four of them including Best Picture.
That was the last time I cared about films winning Oscars. Boss Baby getting nominated recently kind of confirms it.
Did you even watch the movie? I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to feel unsatisfied.
Perhaps I wasn’t satisfied with feeling unsatisfied.
And don’t you learn his name when he goes home to his wife? I didn’t think that was more than 25 minutes in.
25 minutes is well into the film. We’re following this guy for a long time without knowing who he is or why we should even care. It’s not like we’d been following other plot elements until he gets introduced later a la Luke Skywalker.
JEDIT: I’m not saying it’s objectively awful. I’m saying it didn’t meet my expectations, it’s apparently not my kind of film (being a “neo-western neo-noir thriller”, as Wiki puts it), and I just generally did not enjoy myself while watching it. I watched it on a whim with my Dad, as we went to the theatre to see what movies were playing, and the book they had there said it won Best Picture. Apparently that was a mistake. My Dad doesn’t even remember what the film was about when I cite it as an example of Best Picture winners not necessarily being subjectively enjoyable movies.