Quote:
Originally Posted by Janszoon
Considering that westerns as a genre are largely defined by taking place during a particular time period, I would say no, No Country For Old Men is not a western. For that matter, the plot doesn't particularly resemble a western either.
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Are you kidding?
The mood and narrative is totally like a western, and it is set in Texas, a place where a lot of people still have a cowboy mentality, which the 3 main characters in the film all have.
I mean, Chigruh is just your traditional mysterous badass that's typical of many westerns, Tom Bell is your kind hearted sheriff trying to do right and Moss is a conflicted guy who does some questionable things in the persuit of a better life and is in way over his head.
They're modern takes on old archtypes that go back to Ford, Leone, Peckinpah and all those guys. The coens themselve cite Peckinpah as a major influence in particular.
No Country takes conventions of the western genre, puts them in a modern context and adds a more existential and nihilistic perspective and a less romanticized point of view, similar to what Peckinpah and Leone did in their own era. I think of it as a modern western (or 80s western to be more specific), in the same way that Firefly, Cowboy Bebop and Trigun are furtistic sci fi westerns.