No Country for Old Men

Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson, Kelly Macdonald

Directed by: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

B. J. Carter
Coastal Journal Staff

In his book On Directing Film, David Mamet rather contentiously asserted that good acting requires only the most basic performance of action, that the more elaborate the performance from the actor, the larger the shadow cast over the script, which is more crucial to the success of the picture than any performance.  Watching even his best films, namely House of Games or Homicide, you can see evidence of his philosophy to a startling degree.  The actors speak their jazzy lines in that particular Mamet drone and move through the films like zombies.  Given that his films are meant to be about as emotionally resonant as a good chess match, Mamet has gotten away with making a handful of good pictures and a couple of great ones despite skimping on a component of filmmaking that audiences rely quite heavily on to digest the information onscreen:  Acting.