Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men
Have you seen the film No Country for Old Men? The movie is based National Book Award winner Cormac McCarthy’s work of the same title. It’s a difficult film for me to recommend because, like the novel, it so relentlessly violent and disturbing. But the performances trump the disturbing aspects. As the New York Times reviewer wrote, “At its center is a figure of evil so calm, so extreme, so implacable that to hear his voice is to feel the temperature in the theater drop.” Spanish actor Javier Bardem plays a sociopath, a hired killer with a twisted honor code. His presence dominates the film, so much so that you fear his return to the screen, but are too mesmerized to look away.
Bardem is a chameleon, able to change his appearance and alter his physical presence for each role he undertakes. In this new film he is barely recognizable as the same actor who portrayed persecuted Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas in Before Night Falls. (He received a Best Actor Oscar nomination for this role.)
The Westport Library has several offerings, including many Spanish fillms featuring Bardem. While in our Audio Visual department, browse through the growing collection of international films.