No Country for Old Men (Coen Brothers, 2007)

When I first saw Coen Bros 'No Country For Old Men', on its release, I was in a nice big cinema on a trip to Glasgow. Great seat, great sound system. This atmospheric chase thriller is based almost word-for-word on Cormac McCarthy's novel. It is set variously in the desert, empty small towns in West Texas and on the Mexican border. As you will know if you have visited these places, they are where silence reigns supremo. Apart from the sounds of nature and the occasional interference of men and machines. The sound design of this movie reflects 'the region', an important aspect of the making of this film. There is no music to be heard apart from the diegetic appearance of a mariachi band when the central character awakes, wounded, in a square in Mexico.

But hark. Listen. There is constant flickering in the sonic world of this movie. As the characters walk through the dust you hear the crunch of their boots. There are various (and many) clicks of catches on guns, silenced or otherwise. Lightbulbs are unscrewed behind doors. Grills are removed from aircon ducts. Men shoot at one another in empty streets, no sirens, no dramatic swells and choruses. Meetings take place in diners with no radio in the background even, but there is hum and there are sonic references. The sound of singing bowls and sine waves fight through (my constant) tinnitus for attention. Is that music? Or my ears, my ears?

Carter Burwell has created the most minimal score for this movie, in league with sound designer Skip Lievsay (he takes care of the sound effects that are not music). I cannot recommend it highly enough. There is sound, there is music (there is always music - if there is a listener). In a world of noise, No Country (and no classical, no rock etc) is a relief. A sensory experiment. And a triumph for music and movies. Claudia Gorbman wrote of 'Unheard Melodies', how the job of film music is not to be heard. Here's an extreme example. Nice one chaps.