Juno & No Country for Old Men

I have just sen two very good films. The reason why I have just seen two, is that I need to take a few weeks to decide if I want to see a film or not, and usually by that time it has almost stopped showing. Thus it was that I ended up seeing both Juno and No Country for Old Men within 24 hours.

Juno - This is a very heartfelt film. Really, it it extremely well acted, written and directed. Special kudos must go to Ellen Page, for really selling her character and her motivations. The tone and mood is just right, not too dark, and not too happy ever after-ish either. I would much recomend this film. Unfortunatly, it is not perfect. The script is dependant on an understanding of many of the references throughout, most often confusingly to me about music. Having a conversation that is based around the music that two characters like is fine, but when this is a recurring scene and it means absolutly nothing to me, I started to lose my connection. But i did not get bored, it kept me entertained, and I left the cinema feeling that wonderful mix of bliss and life-affirming fear.

No Country for Old Men - I can see why this won so many awards. The direction is superb, creating a feel for the atmosphere that is brilliantly supported by the cast. The only problem I had was that there did not seem to be a singular "lead", and I felt rather left in the dark at some stages. However, I am sure this was deliberate. This is a slow movie, best described as an action film, with a much more meaningful purpose, and therefore missing our on many of the actin-setpeices that would be part of a more popcorn style. Not that this is too artistic, I still understood it. It is definetly worth a look, it is just not as groundbreaking as some of the reviews led me to believe. If anything, it is more of an old fashioned style of film, but this is not a bad thing.

Choice: I prefer Juno. No Country is the better film, but Juno such a heartfelt comedy which still manages to include drama that I have to recomend it, even over such a high class of competition.