Coen, Coen on the range

The Coen brothers have returned to form. Joel and Ethan Coen walked the red carpet at the Palais Saturday with their newest film, “No Country for Old Men,” an adaptation of the 2005 novel by Cormac McCarthy. But even before the film’s official screening, a couple of successful press previews was already feeding the buzz.

The movie, set in the lonely expanses of the Texas border in the early ‘80s, carries with it echoes of their greatest films like “Blood Simple,” “Miller’s Crossing” and “Fargo,” but it is also uniquely its own. The set-up suggests a standard thriller: A man out hunting (Josh Brolin) happens upon a drug deal gone bad, grabs up $2 million in cash and is pursued by an implacable killer (Javier Bardem) determined to get the stash back. Tommy Lee Jones, settling deep into a role that reflects his own Texas roots, plays a philosophic lawman, attempting to track the movements of the killer and his prey. The movie itself is as austere as the desert landscapes. It contains long stretches of silence, punctuated by moments of unexpected and underplayed humor. By midpoint, the violence has reached such a crescendo, you wonder where it can possibly lead, but the freres Coen confound expectations in the second half as they survey the impact of the violence on those whose lives are affected. Finally, the movie ends on a quiet, reflective note as Jones delivers a parting monologue that should put him into contention for supporting actor awards come year-end.

Some moviegoers are likely to be mystified and frustrated by the film’s unpredictable terms, but the high-end critics are primed to applaud. Consider the movie another coup for producer Scott Rudin, who is said to have willed it into being. Miramax Films will be releasing it stateside, while partner Paramount Vantage will oversee the film’s international release. And so after the movie’s red-carpet rollout, Miramax’s Daniel Battsek and Paramount Vantage’s John Lesher and Nick Meyer hosted a civilized sit-down celebratory dinner at the open-air, seaside La Plage, where the evening’s winning filmmakers received their just desserts. (Gregg Kilday)