The Coen brothers return to form in Cannes

Geoff Andrew reviews Li Yang's 'Blind Mountain' and the Coens' 'No Country for Old Men'.

May 22 2007

Notwithstanding the enormous number of film endings provided in Cannes – and this year, of course, boasted around 30 more than usual due to the compilation movie 'To Each His Own Cinema', with Ken Loach's final instalment actually entitled 'Happy Ending' – none is likely to prove more satisfying than that to be found in the Chinese film 'Blind Mountain'.

Playing in the Un Certain Regard strand Li Yang's follow-up to 'Blind Shaft' is set in a remote village in northern China in the early 1990s where, if the film is to be believed, young women from outside the area were regularly bought from their families to serve (and I do mean serve) as wives to the local menfolk.

The victim at the centre of the movie is a student, duped into believing she'll have a job in the village, drugged, and left to the mercies of a somewhat violent 'husband' and his parents. It's an affecting tale, related with a solid if slightly plodding inevitability (French critic Michel Ciment even likened it to DW Griffith's 'Orphans of the Storm'!) and a few too many implausibilities (it takes far too long for the heroine to realise that the postman to whom she secretly entrusts her letters to her family is in fact simply passing them straight on to hubby). But the film looks good, and is blessed with a very fine lead turn from Lu Hunang, who brings considerable force, feistiness and determination to the student, winning our sympathies without ever once trying to make the character unduly likeable. And that's why the ending – sudden, surprising, violent – is such a winner; at every screening in Cannes it's had audiences whooping enthusiastically.

Still, you need more than just a stirring finale if you're looking for something truly special, and in that regard the Coens' adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel 'No Country for Old Men' is undoubtedly one of the finest films we've so far seen in Cannes this year. You can see why Joel and Ethan wanted to make this their first full-on adaptation of another writer's material; a real return to form after the disappointment that was 'The Ladykillers', the movie comes across like 'Blood Simple' crossed with 'Fargo'. Josh Brolin is terrific as the resourceful Texan Viet vet who finds over $2 million in cash amid the carnage of some kind of drugs handover deep in the desert just north of the Texan border; Javier Bardem is remarkable as a psychopathic hitman hot on his trail; and Tommy Lee Jones is dependably marvellous as the sheriff in pursuit of the killer.

It's prime Coens' material, and while this writer hasn't read the novel, those who have confirm that it's very faithful to McCarthy's story, characters and dialogue; the Brothers may have brought in some extra deadpan humour through direction and casting, but the darkness at the heart of the novel remains very much intact. It's a class act throughout: the performances are note-perfect (Kelly MacDonald as Brolin's wife and Woody Harrelson as another hitman on the hitman's trail are particularly memorable), the balance between action, humour, suspense and philosophical musings is meticulously sustained, and the contributions of Coens regulars like Roger Deakins, Mary Zophres and Carter Burwell are as strong as one would expect. It's a wonderful film, its sole 'flaw' the fact that it does feel, towards the end, like an adaptation of a novel rather than something that was initially conceived as a movie; novels can end untied-up and in contemplative mood, but films generally need a stronger sense of closure.

But if the openness of the film's later scenes do leave one feeling that it's not like your average genre movie, maybe that's not such a bad thing anyway. After all, the Coens' films have always been notable for their ambitions, audacity and idiosyncrasy, and this is certainly no exception.

• 
•