No Country For Old Men: The Movie

The C-Brothers have made a film that reminds us of the promise of cinema.

That is, it can be an art form like poetry or painting or prose.

The masterstroke is this: The complete absence of a soundtrack as such.

Yet, it is as much an aural experience as a visual or narrative one.

The sounds of the world are allowed to live on their own.

No folksy guitars to say, this is "the west." No ominous drones to indicate foreboding and menace.

Plenty of unease in the sound of footsteps in the hall, the scrape of coathangers in a cheap motel closet.

Not a single note of "music" in the entire film; yet, the most appropriate and artistic use of sound in cinema I've ever "seen."