Ever since the Criterion Collection started to release movies from Joel and Ethan Coen with their first film Blood Simple on DVD and Blu-ray in 2016, it was only a matter of time before the home video distribution company released their most well-regarded film into the collection. And it only took eight years. The Criterion Collection has an edition of the Coen Brothers’ Academy Award-winning film No Country For Old Men and it’s well worth the $49.95 price tag for the 4K Ultra HD release (it’s even cheaper if you buy it during a 50% off sale too).
Written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen (adapted from Cormac McCarthy’s 2005 novel of the same name), No Country For Old Men follows the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong in West Texas in 1980. It finds the events through three characters, a war veteran who finds a large sum of money in the desert (Llewelyn Moss, played by Josh Brolin), the hitman tasked with finding the money (Anton Chigurh, played by Javier Bardem), and the sheriff investigating the crimes (Tom Bell, played by Tommy Lee Jones). While the three characters never share the same frame throughout the movie, they are all tied together through the Coen Brothers’ expert direction and editing (via their pseudonym “Roderick Jaynes”), as well as brilliant camerawork by Roger Deakins.
No Country For Old Men won Best Picture during the 80th Academy Awards in February 2008 (for the movies of 2007). Although this is another reason why it’s an important film, it seems like even if it didn’t win the Oscar, it would still be considered as an important film of 2007 and the 2000s decade altogether. It’s the height of filmmaking from the Coen Brothers, as one of their masterpieces throughout their careers.
The pair hasn’t been as good after No Country For Old Men (although there are some really good ones afterwards, like A Serious Man, True Grit, and Inside Llewyn Davis), as the brothers haven’t made a movie together since The Ballad of Buster Scruggs in 2018. And who knows if they’ll ever work together again? Joel Coen made The Tragedy of Macbeth in 2021, while Ethan Coen directed the documentary Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind in 2022 and Drive-Away Dolls in 2024, as well as the upcoming Honey Don’t!. It seems like No Country For Old Men just might be their last great film together.
As for the release itself, No Country For Old Men comes with two discs, one 4K Ultra HD disc with the movie in 4K and the other a Blu-ray disc with the movie in a lower resolution and a number of bonus features—including a new conversation with Roger Deakins, associate producer David Diliberto, and author Megan Abbott. Aside from the impressive 4K Ultra HD restoration of the film’s picture and audio soundtrack restoration, the best reason to pick up this edition is the new conversation with the Coen Brothers with Abbott. It has interesting tidbits and trivia about the making of No Country For Old Men (Josh Brolin’s audition tape was directed by Quentin Tarantino, while the pair was making Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror for the Grindhouse double feature in 2006). Rounding out the bonus features are making-of documentaries (one even directed by Brolin), cast and crew interviews, essays, and more.
No Country For Old Men is a great film from two great directors. That’s reason enough for a recommendation. However, there’s just so many cool things that go along with the release that’s worth your attention and dollars — especially if you’re a film nerd.
