If you pay close attention to when Sherriff Bell returns to the motel room where Llewellyn was gunned down, he ducked under the crime scene tape to find the lock of the door blown out. The vent to the air duct is on the floor with a coin. Then he sits on the bed, you see that the shadow of the crime scene tape is not there anymore. The shadow of the crime scene tape was there when the Sherriff walked to the bathroom. Then suddenly the shadow of the crime scene tape is gone.... Meaning Chigurh was there, and Sherriff Bell narrowly avoided encountering Anton.
@@lcharlesesquire4087 Yes. Chigur was in the hotel room to take the money. He slipped out when the Sherriff went into the bathroom, breaking through the crime scene tape. Chigur is a peculiar man, and he's not the type to duck down to avoid the crime scene tape. He just broke through it and left. Then he went to go kill Llewellyn's wife.
I think the coin their signifies the toss... he did it for the cop and he got lucky, the fact leaving the coin as a lucky coin and the cop being left alive...
Or... He was in room 114. When Bell walked up to the motel, there were two rooms. 112 and 114. I'd argue that Anton was in room 114 looking for the case or more info or to cover up his own tracks some more. View it like this ... This is actually Bell's coin flip moment. Him picking room 112 is him 'picking heads' and winning his life. It goes along with the themes of Fate vs Free Will that is playing out in the movie. Little side note; Anton views himself as Fate more so than Death imo, but this veneer dissolves when Carla Jean calls him out on the whole coin flip thing, saying it is not the coin/choice/fate but Anton's own decission. So, when he kills her (and he did) he lost that veneer of being "Fate's Angel" and boom, he gets hit by the car at the end when fate takes a swing at him
The question is , does Chigurh exist in that movie interpretation of the book (haven't red the book) , but in the breakdown video Paul said , if that movie was direct interpretation of the book it would be at least 8 hours long :D
@@bradws4eva Because he interacts and meets with the boss of the gang trying to buy the drugs, he gives him back both the money and the drugs in exchange for a high paying job under working directly with the boss.
The motel room was the most confusing to me. I also thought it was the sheriff imagining things OR that things were happening at different times. But it makes WAY more sense that Chigur was in the other room. He blew out the door where Moss was staying at, used a coin to undue the vent. Then he saw that the money was pushed all the way nearer to the other room. So he went to the next door room, got the money and was almost caught by Sheriff Bell. The Sheriff just lacked the insight to check the other room. Otherwise there would have been a shootout.
Shootout...? Doubt it. Dead Bell? Definitely. When Bell was walking up to the two motel rooms, that was his 'coin flip' moment. Him 'picking' 112 was him landing on heads (like the Texaco guy) and him winning his life, hence the shot of the coin on the floor. Had he done things differently.... Bell's fate would have ended up differently
@@Umega101 Didn't he pull out his gun right before going in? I think he was pretty good and ready for a shootout. Or he would have been killed by a gunshot. Either way, I think there would have been some shooting done. I read the book a long time ago (before it was even a movie) and I think in the book there is a shootout with the police around this point, and Chigur ends up burning one of the officers alive. So I think the movie was keeping the people who were familiar with the novel at the edge of our seats, thinking there would be a confrontation, but then subverted our expectations, which is not a bad thing. Worked great.
Not to mention SHOOTING EACH OTHER. I wonder if the guy running this channel even watches the movies or just regurgitates other people's silly theories? That statement at 01:03 invalidates the entire idea.
@@margaretedwards1366 the video clearly (and incorrectly) states Chigurh and Moss never interacted, not Chigurh and Bell (listen from about 00:53 onward),
I was watching an interview with Javier after this movie came out and of course his hairstyle came up. He said people would cross the street when they noticed him, they were scared and he was happy to get a proper haircut when filming was done 😂 Edit- great movie btw
Moss had a shootout with the cartel at the first hotel, Chigurh is the answer to all the questions the sherif dosnt won't to answer. Such as how can a good man like Moss ambush and kill 3 men at a hotel all in order to keep some money. So, in order to convince himself that Moss never ambushed and murdered anyone a new person needed to be introduced to the story. You also seem to not get the principles behind a false narrator, what we see in the movie is not what happened but, it's what The sherif said happened.
*I feel like Chigurh* is like The Joker in the “A Serious House” comic book : He’s committed himself so fully to an ideology - that it leaves no room for a personality - he’s just a vessel for a belief.
@@firstlast9846 If you feel that way then you just stick with the Adam West Batman series that seems to be more your level . You will happily enjoy and digest the old Batman TV series with your PRECIOUS funny joker. Well done on informing us all that you vape without telling us that you vape Oh and that also you are gay
@@firstlast9846 I laughed plenty at Jared Leto's Joker.. But if you mean funny like all the hospital scenes in The Dark Knight (from the nurse outfit to him playing with the detonator) then I agree
They were filmed in the same location too… I read that No Country had to shut down production for a day or two bc of the smoke from the Derrick burning scene in There will be Blood.
Chigurh did speak to Moss. They spoke over the phone. That’s when Chigurh offered to spare Moss’s wife if he surrendered, and he declined. That’s why he showed up at the end to kill Carla Jean, because he had given Moss his word that he would.
I don’t think that Chigurh is not real but I also came to the conclusion that his character represents death and you can’t avoid it no matter what, each instance of someone being killed is a representation of the inevitability of death and how it’s all up to chance and fate. You could almost pretend each person never saw Chigurh, they just died to some type of natural cause but the interaction we see on film is what it would be like to meet death in the flesh.
Happy to be a new member! Love this theory. I’ve always thought of Chigurgh as a sort of mystical manifestation of evil and psychopathy, like the Judge in Blood Meridian, but it makes just as much sense if that’s all in Bell’s head too.
As a huge fan of the book I think he's real but the over the top exaggeration of his evil is philosophical in nature. Hence the title, evil you can't understand
It makes sense as in this one the hero leaves the field before anything is resolved. This movie came out in the wake of series like Six Feet Under where the showrunner insisted some parts of a story can not be answered. The hero knows he can not answer them. He states his belief and just leaves the field for another to tend. The real world is like this.
if u listen to the commentary, the coens say they purposely made Chigur and Moss that way so they are two sides of the same coin flip, get it. i guess not.
After watching your last video I did the same thing and ran across the same video. It's been digging into my brain. I'm glad I wasn't the only one and you gave credit. You're the freaking man Paul!
@@rayromano6249I applaud him for his hard work and attention to detail... but c'mon!! At least present the subject of this video from a neutral point of view, give us the arguments for and against, and then let us decide whether or such a stretch of a theory holds water
At the very beginning of the video he says Chigurh and Moss don’t interact, yet, in both the movie and the book they get into a shootout with each other, injuring each other, and speak to each other on the phone… Not to mention much of what’s known of Chigurh comes from what is said by Carson Wells, who knew that Chigurh was a very real man who didn’t quite have a sense of humor.
I see a lot of people misinterpreting the theory that Chigurh isn’t real. “But Moss talks to him, he’s obviously real or I guess the guy in the beginning just strangled himself.” They’re missing the point and when you realize the film is really about Bell, not Moss, then you see it. For Bell, it’s easier to adjust to the world if he thinks that it’s not a gang or a cartel that kills people but one singular entity. In this case, he imagines Chigurh. If he could only catch Chigurh, then the violence stops and it comforts him to think that. He can cope with the evil if it’s in one person(who he can stop) instead of the cartel or a gang (which he can’t). All the people in the film who died really did die and Moss talks to someone on the phone but it’s a member of the cartel.
That makes sense...he is basically the mystery with unsolved cases....he is tied to the cases linked to sheriff's county that he was never able to resolve. Plus, a guy so odd would stand which make him easier to track down.
5:40 - I always thought this was reinforcing the idea that Bell is falling behind in his old age, and the title of the book/film. He's a minute late to Moss's murder, he misses Chigurh by the same.
If you look at it realistically missing them both by a minute literally saved his life and he got to enjoy his old age instead of meeting a terrible fate
Good theory that the trailer park was spared due to Anton’s rare form of respect. However, his reaction was pretty clearly one of interrupted intent. Just his semi-surprised glance toward the door was enough to indicate a hiccup in his normally smooth poise. And the mildly fascinated smile at the lady was his amazed enjoyment of the buzzer-beater effect against monumental odds. Like the gas station guy, their whole lives had brought each of them to that moment, and a last-second glitch happened. She, all stoic and serious, cluelessly almost paid it all for interfering with his mission, (just like all the rest), while Anton stood fully in awed awareness of the anomaly.
I always thought that the scene with the sheriff opening the door while the movie make us think that Chigurh is on the other side was more of a reference to a coin toss like the sheriff has this feeling that the killer returned to the scene and he is either in the other side of that door or he isn’t and he is dreading finding out that’s why he hesitates and as the tension rises the coin is tossed we find out that he is actually not there
What’s so great about the book was all the characters came from a war and saw real violence and have to reckon with the “new violence” that is rising in the world. It’s brilliant.
Just a random guy who caught your random review of a movie I love (a thinking movie) - BTW 10 out of 10 IMO per your analysis of this movie. I was going to call you out on "Suger" in the concept that his is the Angel of Death, perfect and all knowing, going Fate's (God's) work - but i had patients - so forced myself to hold off from commenting until your video concluded. Glad i did (your 47 minute mark confirmed my view on "Suger"). He thought he was Fate's instrument of will, but he was just a killer justifing his will as Fates instead. There was no need for him to shot at the crow - if he were objective per Fate - but he shot at it because of his nature, to kill - not Fate's nature. So that scene showed "Suger's" character as a killer and hypocrite. As for the Cat, Cat's scamper ("stranger danger") - I love cats, my best buddy is a cat, and she will scamper the second a stranger shows up - so "Suger" did not spare the cat out of some "code" - the cat just got the fk out of there then "Suger" killed his master. 7th Seal reference - WOW, never noticed it - i have both movies on Bluray - but ya "Suger" is in affect the Angel of Death in 7th Seal (I'm sure the Coen's know this and made in so - Coen's movies are both excellent and smart - so ya! they made the link, you noticed it, and I never did until now! - so thank you Sir!) Moss - many think he was a good guy (he was good-ish). But when He died I did not cry. He had 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! chances (you make much about Fate vs Freewill - and I think this movie is ALL about it - that there is BOTH) Moss FAILED 1st when he found the Mexican alive (ask yourself what would you do? - Me? I'd ignore the money and call the police (Moss was in Nam - he would know a "gut shot" was only lethal if you don't get medics - well what did Moss do???????????????? (unlike ME (and I suspect YOU) - we would ignore the money and called the police to save the mexican's life - a moral test (which 95 precent of us would PASS)). Moss does not PAss that test, instead he ruminates for 8 hours - after taking the money - then FINALLY DOES THE RIGHT THING - after medically the guy would have died (and the other side shot him again through the window to make sure he was dead) - So ya Moss did the right thing (actually he didn't - the right thing would have been to call the police right then!) LATER (too little too late). So from that point onward, he freewill was forfitted to Fate. BUT BUT BUT Fate gave Moss a SECOND CHANCE!!!!!!!!!! to do right!!!!!!!!! via the telephone conversation with "Suger" - and instead of "manning up and affirming Super was the professional - i.e. forfiting his own life to safe his Wifes, he Ego ups (chooses his own ego over humility in acknowledging him being over matched) and forfeits both his own life and his wife's life. So no I was not broken up over his death - he was overmatched, and his ego refused to accept this (unlike Bell - who was more moral, I think if Bell was the one seeing the Mexican he would have called the cops right then and there - to save the mex's life over the money) Bell also had the WISDOM and HUMILITY (thanks to his Uncle (Northern Exposure TV guy) who was pure Wisdom and talked sense into Bell at the end (Bell was mostly there already) to know he was over matched and simply walked away before he ended up dead like Moss. BTW slight dissagrement on Suger in one particular. Suger had the same greed as Moss and why he tracked him, for the money. You stated "Suger" did not end up with the money, I always thought he did. Can we clarify this particular? thanks for review of such an excellent movie (Coen's 3 best) Fargo is their best, Blood Simple (seems utterly forgotten today - and thier 1st film - is their 2nd best), Barton Fink is 4th best and also forgotten for some reason. thanks again Sir - fully thought out and apt review of this movie - damn I'm impressed. Now I have to see what other movies you've analysised!
95% whew friendo you have a LOT of faith in humanity lol id say more like 50% would worry more for the person than the money nowadays. Most people would get their phones out and start doing a TikTok dance while dudes bleeding out 😂 Fr tho I agree with you, I also didn’t care when Moss died. He sucked. I was rooting for “Suger” as you call him, all except the wife (but it fits with his character). One flaw he had was relying on the “fate” of the coin to take the blame when it was really personal choice. The coin toss scene in the gas station is one of my top favorite scenes in movies period. Top 50 for sure (sounds like a lot but with the amount of great movies and shows out there it really isn’t). Chigur is and will always be one of my most beloved villains bc he’s just so memorable and is acted and written quite well, from the small mannerisms to the iconic haircut and weapon and complete lack of empathy or morals, he’s a perfect depiction of a psychopath without going over the top with ridiculous qualities …. like, say Jared Letos Joker from Suicide Squad….
@@HeatherHolt Ya I agree fully Heather Chigur was a 10 out of 10 pysho killer (not just a nut - i.e. American Psychotype/Joker/etc) - but one with character devolopment/traits that make you identify with him in some sort of realistic way. He performance was up there with Robert Walker's Bruno in Strangers on a Train, and Herny Fonda's Frank in Once Upon a Time in the West. Thanks for reply Madam. ;-).
In connection to the theory i noticed the Sheriff has a double shadow cast on the door of the Motel at 5:17 with 1 looming larger, further hinting at Chigurh being a figment. I'm unsure if he's real or not but as we see in real crimes perpetrators place blame upon the Devil with the Sheriff struggling to comprehend that Man is so evil it holds up & it could be he's chalking up these crimes to an entity, fate or even the reaper. Especially as he wonders what older generations interpretations of the events would be. Very interesting either way.
I really like this theory. Makes everything make more sense. Side-ish note. I heard on the Small Beans videos about the Coen (?) Brothers that their view of the world is sort what you mentioned. They view that, I hope I'm paraphrasing correctly, life is just random. Things happen and then it's over. That's something they put into all their movies. Random stuff happens and in the end nothing really changes. You can see it in the Big Lebowsky, Hail Cesar, here, Burn Before Reading, and so on. Lots of stuff happens but in the end nothing really happens.
It's possible, I just thought that it was Bell's Imagination and it was his mind conjuring up Anton and it was his way of "facing the evil and also, the fear of losing his life to The Evil, which is Anton"... In a Way, Anton is kind of like a morally bound Michael Myers from Halloween in this movie. I think that your interpretation is very interesting and I also think that Anton, like MM in Halloween are like a Shadowy Shape of our fear of death in our subconscious mind and I also believe that the Coen brother's were possibly leaving that ending with Sheriff Bell open to our own interpretation of the scene. I personally don't think that he was physically In There (I think that the window was locked in the bathroom and Bell let's out a huge sigh of relief..., but, I Did go back and watched that scene again and you're right, the Shadow Is Gone... So, I guess that your interpretation of it can be true possibly, too. :) All In All, A Great Catch and Eye, Man... I never noticed that before... Again, it Really makes me think of the ending of Halloween again, when Loomis blows him over the balcony and he Was There... And Then... He's GONE... ☺️😊☺️😎😎😎😎😎😎😎🤙🤙🤙🤙🤙🍷🍷🍷🍷🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Bell was told of a bullet wound with no bullet, that’s why he was thinking of the bolt gun, he’s a detective and he was putting 2 & 2 together but couldn’t fully articulate his thought, It didn’t mean Chigurh wasn’t real. He is the personification of death tho, like Michael Myers
"It's not that the one theater has been continuously playing "Cannonball Run" for as long as anyone can remember. It's that, after the show, the audience splits off into groups to discuss the role of Dom Deluise as the Christ figure."
Thoughts on the scenes where Chigurh is discussed? For example, when the boss clarifies with Carson Wells that he has seen / can identify Anton Chigurh. Alternatively, Carson discussing Chigurh with Moss. Seems an odd choice if he doesn't exist and is the sheriff's fictional creation.
The “Chigurh and Moss are the same person” theory can be easily debunked by the fact that despite what this person says, they interact in both the book and the movie. They get into a shootout with each other, injuring each other, and speak to each other on the phone. Not to mention the fact that Chigurh is still alive after Moss’s death and goes on to kill his widow after she’s already aware of her husbands death as well. The theory essentially becomes “Bell imagines this whole thing” which is just grasping at straws and you could hypothesize some kind of theory like that for every novel or film despite there being no evidence. The story is deep enough. You don’t need to try to see things that aren’t there to be seen to make it seem deeper.
I just completed a personal edit on this film and was perplexed by the ambiguity of the symbolism. It's definitely there, but often very subtle or misplaced. The average viewer may never enjoy the movie without additional deep thought on the story and structure. Very good film
I did really like the comparison between No Country and “Good,Bad,Ugly”, I thought that was spot on. I do believe Chigurh is real though, There’s the dime and vent opened at the end of the movie suggesting Chigurh came to where Moss was killed, off camera, looked in the vent, and found the money. Hence why he has money to give the kid on the bike after his car accident. And he also had the interaction with Moss’s wife after her mom’s funeral, I don’t think the audience would have seen that if he was imaginary...
People died . They had a gunfight . He gets shot , people are murdered . This just ridiculous . The variances in perspective are the mid games that are played on people from their own perspective
You forgot to mention that he also killed the guy that moss tried to get away from before the shoot out. The guy in the truck who got shot in the throat....
I can imagine Llewelyn in his fugue state going to the rental park office because he forgot who he was. The lady there be like,"We don't give no information!"
Weirdest bit for me in this movie was that there is no soundtrack at all, but on Moss's hat there are musical staff and notes all around it. I'm still not sure what this is representing, if anything at all, but seems to have been purposefully done.
I’ve always wondered if all this is a dream like he has been having and it’s him thinking hell “ what if something like this happens?” And the parts where he talks to his friend and wife is just him scared of the dreams deciding to retire.
First off there's two rooms, Bell chooses the one without Chigurh and gets to live: mirroring his coin flip As for the cattle slaughterer: he used a regular gun, not a bolt gun. Thats how the bullet was able to ricochet into him, there is no projectile that can ricochet with the bolt gun: it is an extending (but captive) ram. The point of him mentioning how they use bolt guns now is to illustrate that he knows about them, and might even be able to make the connection to the random motorist... he just doesn't even consider using a cattle slaughtering implement on people because he's not cut out to deal with this kind of criminal
Super fun theory, I don't really buy it but given that it's Cormac McCarthy I absolutely see where you're coming from. There are many people that theorize that the judge and the kid from blood meridian are the same person.
I wonder if the similarity between the name "Chigurh" and the insect "chigger" or "jigger" was intentional. They're actually two different insects, but are so often confused that they're basically interchangeable. Jiggers are those parasitic worm-like things that burrow into and live under the skin of their host. I think this connection works; Chigurh, a psycopath, really is something like a civilizational parasite. Goodness creates a space in which evil can thrive - a blind spot where evil can lurk. Once we become so detached from our antecedents that we forget about man's intrinsic love of violence, we become unable to comprehend Chigurh, and consequently unable to stop him. He's imbedded in our society like a transponder in a stack of bills. Like a repressed shadow within a psyche.
Don’t forget Ed Tom at the end of the film telling his wife about two dreams he had. He specifically calls out that both has his dad in it and that it’s peculiar because he’s older than his Dad ever was by 20 years, so his Dad in fact looked younger than him. The first dream was about his dad giving him in those dreams money in town and he thinks he lost it (major plot of the film). The second dream was about his dad going on ahead on horseback to make a campfire (signifying that he’s died and wants to shine a light so Ed Tom) could find him when he dies. The piece about Anton waiting behind the door and then not being there could also be deceptive. When the camera starts panning into the door it starts from 2x doors back and it looks like the lock was blown from the neighbouring door. So a real Anton could have been there mimicking the shenanigans at the motel with multiple rooms next door to each other. Awesome movie.
Something no one seems to want to address (or be aware of TO address) is the milk bottle. WHO drinks out of a random milk bottle that's been left out on the coffee table? It doesn't matter that it's still cold - what if the LAST person drank straight from the bottle? And what of preserving any potential forensic evidence sitting in/on that milk bottle? Yet Sheriff Ed Tom simply grabs the closest glass, pours, and starts sipping! I would NEVER! You can't know WHERE that milk bottle has been - or who's been at it, with their possible Hepatitis C etc.! I find it plausible that Anton Chigurh is the "shadow" of Ed Tom Bell - but WHO killed Carla Jean? She appears *familiar* with him; she seems to *recognize* him and know why he's there.
Exactly. Also, Llewelyn probably killed the cartel members, during the drug deal, in actuality. He then took the bag of money, with the tracker, which was the "McGuffin". Carsen Wells didn't actually exist either. These were all just characters in the mind of Tommy Lee Jones, to explain the violent actions of the actual cartel members, allowing him to cope with the entire situation. Any character that didn't actually interact with Tommy Lee Jones, was probably just a character in his story.
It would make sense for Anton not exist to the sheriff but luwelyn definitely was being chased by Anton his tangibility was the literal gate in front of heaven
Moss was being chase by the blue SUV that killed him! you can see it in multiple frames and if I can remember right you always see it from below until the final shot of it fleeing the scene then we get a shot of it driving away while the camera pans up.
I don't know for sure what McCarthy's intentions are, but you can make a pretty good case that the Judge and the Kid in Blood Meridian are the same guy as well.
This seems like a stretch. There are clues, or Anton "calling cards." that Bell discovers during the movie that only Anton would leave. The bolt gun was 100% real- the first deputy who is killed by Anton first tells Bell about him having "an oxygen tank for emphysema or somethin," no bullet or exit wound was found in the head of the highway victim, locks were punched out at Llewelyn's trailer and the hotel scenes visited by Bell, etc. And honestly....who, other than Anton, would have poured themselves a glass of milk after breaking into Llewelyn's trailer??
He has to exist: when he goes and kills Milton Waddams, Milton clearly recognizes him, the guy in the truck asks Brolin for help, if Brolin was Anton, he would’ve recognized him as a cleaner and would have been scared instead of asking for help and talking about lobos And when he kills the girl at the end she does not recognize him and says she knew he was crazy as soon as she seen him sitting there
Don't depend to heavily on evidence that supports a theory. Instead. look for evidence that refutes your theory. There is an exercise in which the student is given a list of numbers. The numbers are given according to some rule, the student then forms a theory of what the rule might be, and they provide a list of four numbers and asks if the list follows the rule. So lets say the starting list is 2, 4, 8, and 16. There are a number of rules r=that could fit here and the student usually starts out with the obvious. Each list is independent including being independent of the teachers list. You give a list, 20, 40, 80, 160, 320. This list complies with the rule, but the rule is not, double of the preceding number. The student can try and try to figure out the rule by guessing what the rule might be then providing a list of numbers that complies with that rule. But this problem is designed in a way that you can't guess the rule in this way. The way to work out the rule is to provide a list of numbers that does not comply with the theory of the rule. In this case the rule is, each number must be greater than the number before. And so, you can work out the rule by giving a list like 2, 3, 4, 1. This list does not comply with the rule. Science actually works by working what theories are wrong. A lot of times you find this out quickly. But sometimes a theory survives each test they come up with, If it survives you gain confidence in the theory. If not you abandon the theory because it is wrong.
Okay, so try it. but before you bring up this scene or that scene remember, this is a story being told by tommy lee's character and its not facts being shown its a story being told by someone with a very small role in it, that admits he got the whole thing wrong from the start.
I dont know this movie very well, and I haven't seen it since I saw it in the theater, but one thing I noticed is that the two people that we have to assume weren't questioned - the heavyset lady and the gas station clerk - they both seemed to be older than Chigurh. So maybe that's why they were spared. Did he meet/talk/interact with anyone else who was older than him?
Thank you Paul for breaking down this movie! I just watched the previous video about this movie and I'm watching this one. It has reignited my interest in this movie. With a deeper understanding of what I had missed all those years ago. So later today I will be watching this movie with fresh eyes. Keep covering the classics my friend!
Thanks for telling me where you got this from. I decided to watch whatisantilogic's one before yours. Got halfway through (about the time he posits his theory) before thinking, perhaps if he read the Cormac Mccarthy book on which the script is based, he'd find the answer. I have read it and sorry but cannot help you as I found the book a bit boring and disappointing and can't really remember it. But if you're interested in knowing people's motivations, etc, try reading the source material.
I like this and it honestly makes this movie easier to explain. LMK what you think. " 'K' from MIB is a sheriff who tells the story of his last investigation before retirement about a series of cartel hits which took place in an attempt to retrieve money from the hunter who took it from the deal-gone-wrong; Thanos. Not even the great Woody Harelson can survive the horde of cartel killers personified into a single, super-hinged/super-unhinged psychopath killer who isn't real even though we watch him kill everyone except the main characters" Best Western Ever. Unbeatable and they knew it when they made it out of the book. It's in the name.
I think Chighur is real. he's behind the hotel door. he leaves while Bell's in the bathroom. in his haste to leave he pulls down the crime tape. notice the tape shadows before and after.
we really don't. all we see is a dark corner and the door hit the wall at a 45° angle. plenty of room there to hide. when he comes out of the bathroom the tape is down and the door is no longer against the wall.
After DNA evaluation of a piece of clothing from the victim, it's pretty widely accepted that Aaron Kosminski was Jack the Ripper. He fit the physical descriptions police had of The Ripper as well.
I totally believe this theory. When I watched it I said how is this guy everywhere. It would seem that it's not one guy but the cartel and the old sheriff is trying to make sense of it. To put all of the cartel's actions on one person.
That’s what makes him such a terrifying character tho. Hes a symbol for chance and death, around any corner, almost unstoppable. If he doesn’t exist, and it’s not some deep philosophical thing like with fight club (inner struggle), then it completely negates the weight of his character. The Cohens aren’t those type of directors IMO. It’s too grounded of a story and source material to delve into “he didn’t exist” or “it was all a dream” troupes.
1st and last time watching. "Only good guy that lives" spoiler was a bit of a bummer. Haven't watched it yet. No biggie. I like the premise of the video
I love your analysis here. But i was really very much intrigued by the fact that Llewelyn Moss and Chigurh had so many similar experiences that mirrored each other. I think there is something more that needs to be explored there. As if they are two sides of the same coin. Also we never actually see them meet face to face do we?? I don't even remember. LOL. I know there was a shootout but the Coen Brothers are careful to specifically make sure that the audience never sees the two men come face to face. So the theory of the narrator's Bogeyman has some merit.
Bell never says anything about a bolt gun to Carla Jean. Mentions a maul slitting the neck and the beef comes to. Pissed off pulls his gun. With all that thrashing it causes a glance shot and a ricochet shot that hits him in the shoulder. So no mention of a bolt gun.
I really enjoy your videos,but this one is way off. In addition to the many obvious holes in this theory pointed out by other commenters, Wells talks ABOUT Chigurh to both Moss and the corporate drug dealer in the office. Also, did Moss kill the corporate guy? And Wells? Secondly, make sure you have the details straight if this is to be an analysis. Bell’s opening monologue doesn’t refer to a “child abduction” but to the murder of a 14-year-old girl. Later, you confused two different stories that Bell tells to Carla Jean: one about a man who tried to shoot a steer with a handgun and was instead struck by the ricochet of his own bullet, and another about the use of captive-bolt pistols to kill steer. The first serves as an analogy for the unpredictable nature of life. The second represents either Bell’s subconscious mind making a connection between the dead man by the road and a slaughterhouse tool which would cause exactly the type of mysterious wound found on the dead man, or his conscious theory that this was the murder weapon. He would likely have taken a clue from what the murdered deputy said on the phone. We don’t know if he was speaking to Bell or a different sheriff, but he says that the man who he’s just arrested had “some kind of air tank” with him. After learning of the mysterious wound on the second victim by the side of the road, and knowing that the perpetrator had an air tank when he was arrested, but that it wasn’t found at the station and had to be in the killer’s possession, it’s likely that he would have eventually thought of the captive-bolt pistol. Lastly, to say that Bell “didn’t see how Moss died” is untrue. He didn’t see the bullets strike him, but he heard the gunfire as he approached the motel, saw Mexicans with guns fleeing the scene, a wounded Mexican with an automatic weapon and shell casings everywhere…he’d have to be a really bad cop not to figure that one out. Anyway, I guess you can’t win ‘em all. Still a big fan of the channel.
Oh one more thing- just about everyone in the world takes off their socks. Moss does so in order to spray his banged up feet with antibacterial spray to prevent infection. Chigurh does this in multiple settings to move stealthily towards his target. He removes the socks in the motel shootout because they were bloody. In most of his violent acts, he’s standing far enough away, typically firing a gun, that he wouldn’t be near the blood. He had to go through the entire motel room to ensure that he had killed everyone and to search for the money. In doing so, his socks became bloody.
I believe the point of the film is to show the real aftermath of war. Look at all the criminality in the movie, it's fueled by the Vietnam War. All the vets in the movie all the criminals with guns. This film takes place in a similar time period to Lethal Weapon which has similar themes.
Check out our full breakdown of the movie here - ua-cam.com/video/P4Cu30YhScM/v-deo.html
Have you played Tekken 8 It’s kind of interesting.
He's def real, read the book.
What-Is-Anti-Logic is one of the best movie critics..i love his theories❤❤❤❤❤
The worst channels are always the most popular
If you pay close attention to when Sherriff Bell returns to the motel room where Llewellyn was gunned down, he ducked under the crime scene tape to find the lock of the door blown out. The vent to the air duct is on the floor with a coin. Then he sits on the bed, you see that the shadow of the crime scene tape is not there anymore. The shadow of the crime scene tape was there when the Sherriff walked to the bathroom. Then suddenly the shadow of the crime scene tape is gone.... Meaning Chigurh was there, and Sherriff Bell narrowly avoided encountering Anton.
So chigurgh slipped out when sheriff wasn’t looking or tore the tape off as he walked by the hotel room? I don’t get how the tape proves he was there
@@lcharlesesquire4087 Yes. Chigur was in the hotel room to take the money. He slipped out when the Sherriff went into the bathroom, breaking through the crime scene tape. Chigur is a peculiar man, and he's not the type to duck down to avoid the crime scene tape. He just broke through it and left. Then he went to go kill Llewellyn's wife.
More likely, it was a simple continuity error.
I think the coin their signifies the toss... he did it for the cop and he got lucky, the fact leaving the coin as a lucky coin and the cop being left alive...
Or... He was in room 114. When Bell walked up to the motel, there were two rooms. 112 and 114. I'd argue that Anton was in room 114 looking for the case or more info or to cover up his own tracks some more. View it like this ... This is actually Bell's coin flip moment. Him picking room 112 is him 'picking heads' and winning his life. It goes along with the themes of Fate vs Free Will that is playing out in the movie. Little side note; Anton views himself as Fate more so than Death imo, but this veneer dissolves when Carla Jean calls him out on the whole coin flip thing, saying it is not the coin/choice/fate but Anton's own decission. So, when he kills her (and he did) he lost that veneer of being "Fate's Angel" and boom, he gets hit by the car at the end when fate takes a swing at him
If you read the book you know that Chigurh does in fact exist.
The question is , does Chigurh exist in that movie interpretation of the book (haven't red the book) , but in the breakdown video Paul said , if that movie was direct interpretation of the book it would be at least 8 hours long :D
Why is that?
iF yOu rEAd THe bOoK
If you watch the film you know he exists too. The video is a bit silly definitely reaching.
@@bradws4eva Because he interacts and meets with the boss of the gang trying to buy the drugs, he gives him back both the money and the drugs in exchange for a high paying job under working directly with the boss.
The motel room was the most confusing to me. I also thought it was the sheriff imagining things OR that things were happening at different times. But it makes WAY more sense that Chigur was in the other room. He blew out the door where Moss was staying at, used a coin to undue the vent. Then he saw that the money was pushed all the way nearer to the other room. So he went to the next door room, got the money and was almost caught by Sheriff Bell. The Sheriff just lacked the insight to check the other room. Otherwise there would have been a shootout.
Shootout...? Doubt it. Dead Bell? Definitely. When Bell was walking up to the two motel rooms, that was his 'coin flip' moment. Him 'picking' 112 was him landing on heads (like the Texaco guy) and him winning his life, hence the shot of the coin on the floor. Had he done things differently.... Bell's fate would have ended up differently
@@Umega101 Didn't he pull out his gun right before going in? I think he was pretty good and ready for a shootout. Or he would have been killed by a gunshot. Either way, I think there would have been some shooting done. I read the book a long time ago (before it was even a movie) and I think in the book there is a shootout with the police around this point, and Chigur ends up burning one of the officers alive. So I think the movie was keeping the people who were familiar with the novel at the edge of our seats, thinking there would be a confrontation, but then subverted our expectations, which is not a bad thing. Worked great.
“They never talked to each other” - what?
They had a very detailed conversation over the phone
Not to mention SHOOTING EACH OTHER. I wonder if the guy running this channel even watches the movies or just regurgitates other people's silly theories? That statement at 01:03 invalidates the entire idea.
@gregbors8364 - Moss talked to Anton on the phone, not Sheriff Bell.
@michaelnoble2432 - Moss and Anton shot each other not Sheriff Bell .
@@margaretedwards1366 the video clearly (and incorrectly) states Chigurh and Moss never interacted, not Chigurh and Bell (listen from about 00:53 onward),
Sugar is deadly.
I was watching an interview with Javier after this movie came out and of course his hairstyle came up. He said people would cross the street when they noticed him, they were scared and he was happy to get a proper haircut when filming was done 😂
Edit- great movie btw
Moss and Chigurh had a shootout though. And Woody Harrelson's character met both Moss and Chigurh and had conversations mentioning both characters.
And if moss died in the motel who killed carley Jean and paid off the boys to stay quiet
But the sheriff is telling the story so he's filling in bits
@@joelsifuentes290
Cartel/Another Hitman pursuing Moss, tying up loose ends.
@@joelsifuentes290maybe it one personality killing the other ( like fight club). But I rather think Chiger is real. Separate monster
Moss had a shootout with the cartel at the first hotel, Chigurh is the answer to all the questions the sherif dosnt won't to answer.
Such as how can a good man like Moss ambush and kill 3 men at a hotel all in order to keep some money.
So, in order to convince himself that Moss never ambushed and murdered anyone a new person needed to be introduced to the story.
You also seem to not get the principles behind a false narrator, what we see in the movie is not what happened but, it's what The sherif said happened.
*I feel like Chigurh* is like The Joker in the “A Serious House” comic book : He’s committed himself so fully to an ideology - that it leaves no room for a personality - he’s just a vessel for a belief.
Now imagine Javier Bardem as The Joker... Probably would give "The Killing Joke" vibes
@TurukMaktob - tbh I’m done with “creepy joker” he needs to be actually funny again.
@@firstlast9846 If you feel that way then you just stick with the Adam West Batman series that seems to be more your level . You will happily enjoy and digest the old Batman TV series with your PRECIOUS funny joker. Well done on informing us all that you vape without telling us that you vape Oh and that also you are gay
@@firstlast9846 I laughed plenty at Jared Leto's Joker.. But if you mean funny like all the hospital scenes in The Dark Knight (from the nurse outfit to him playing with the detonator) then I agree
@@HunterTuruk Heath Ledger's joker was hilarious in an extremely dark way, and it was awesome.
The fact this beat out There Will Be Blood for best picture tells you how good this film is.
Insane we had a year with two films like that in it
Personally think there will be blood is the better film. Love both but I think there will be blood is one of the best films ever made.
They were filmed in the same location too… I read that No Country had to shut down production for a day or two bc of the smoke from the Derrick burning scene in There will be Blood.
@@mdkleveI go with TWBB as the better acted film, maybe the best ever in that regard. But I thought NCFOM was a tighter script
@@mdklevethey are both brilliant.
He ain't real ?? Well I guess the cop in the beginning just strangled himself.😂
And all the other people with holes in their heads arent real either🤣
@@enzyme181 Are we even real ?😂
@@vinzentwallbach4251 read the book
@@vinzentwallbach4251 WE can confirm this video is r e t a r d e d
@@edwardr5084 😂
Chigurh did speak to Moss. They spoke over the phone. That’s when Chigurh offered to spare Moss’s wife if he surrendered, and he declined. That’s why he showed up at the end to kill Carla Jean, because he had given Moss his word that he would.
and?
HS said the Sherriff and Chigurh never spoke, not Moss and Chigurh
I don’t think that Chigurh is not real but I also came to the conclusion that his character represents death and you can’t avoid it no matter what, each instance of someone being killed is a representation of the inevitability of death and how it’s all up to chance and fate. You could almost pretend each person never saw Chigurh, they just died to some type of natural cause but the interaction we see on film is what it would be like to meet death in the flesh.
That makes more sense than this video.
Javier Bardem is phenomenal!
I can't help but notice the similarities in looks between him and Raul Julia.
What-Is-Anti-Logic is one of the best movie critics..
His theories make u think really.Give it a try😶🌫️😶🌫️😶🌫️
He was terrifying
I like how he eats nuts
There are two doors that are roped off, he was in the room next door.
Instead of a coin flip it was a door
This. The Sheriff's coin flip was actually a Pick Door #1 or #2.
@Hit_me-up-Heavyspoilers1
Sure can my man, let me figure out how to do that on here lol
Happy to be a new member! Love this theory. I’ve always thought of Chigurgh as a sort of mystical manifestation of evil and psychopathy, like the Judge in Blood Meridian, but it makes just as much sense if that’s all in Bell’s head too.
thanks so much for joining mate
As a huge fan of the book I think he's real but the over the top exaggeration of his evil is philosophical in nature. Hence the title, evil you can't understand
It makes sense as in this one the hero leaves the field before anything is resolved. This movie came out in the wake of series like Six Feet Under where the showrunner insisted some parts of a story can not be answered. The hero knows he can not answer them. He states his belief and just leaves the field for another to tend. The real world is like this.
if u listen to the commentary, the coens say they purposely made Chigur and Moss that way so they are two sides of the same coin flip, get it. i guess not.
but your theory maskes a lot of sense
@@mrbransformer4184cents
After watching your last video I did the same thing and ran across the same video. It's been digging into my brain. I'm glad I wasn't the only one and you gave credit. You're the freaking man Paul!
This youtuber reaches too hard sometimes. Whatever gets him views I guess. Lost credibility
@@rayromano6249I applaud him for his hard work and attention to detail... but c'mon!! At least present the subject of this video from a neutral point of view, give us the arguments for and against, and then let us decide whether or such a stretch of a theory holds water
At the very beginning of the video he says Chigurh and Moss don’t interact, yet, in both the movie and the book they get into a shootout with each other, injuring each other, and speak to each other on the phone… Not to mention much of what’s known of Chigurh comes from what is said by Carson Wells, who knew that Chigurh was a very real man who didn’t quite have a sense of humor.
In the shop clerk scene, hanging across the window is a row of spare fan belts looking very much like a noose around the clerks neck.😮
creator is on the fent
Interesting theory bro, thanks for the cool lil viddy.
I see a lot of people misinterpreting the theory that Chigurh isn’t real. “But Moss talks to him, he’s obviously real or I guess the guy in the beginning just strangled himself.” They’re missing the point and when you realize the film is really about Bell, not Moss, then you see it. For Bell, it’s easier to adjust to the world if he thinks that it’s not a gang or a cartel that kills people but one singular entity. In this case, he imagines Chigurh. If he could only catch Chigurh, then the violence stops and it comforts him to think that. He can cope with the evil if it’s in one person(who he can stop) instead of the cartel or a gang (which he can’t). All the people in the film who died really did die and Moss talks to someone on the phone but it’s a member of the cartel.
That makes sense...he is basically the mystery with unsolved cases....he is tied to the cases linked to sheriff's county that he was never able to resolve. Plus, a guy so odd would stand which make him easier to track down.
I've legit just been watching these movies as you release these. It's nice to have someone picking the movies i watch. Thanks Paul
5:40 - I always thought this was reinforcing the idea that Bell is falling behind in his old age, and the title of the book/film. He's a minute late to Moss's murder, he misses Chigurh by the same.
If you look at it realistically missing them both by a minute literally saved his life and he got to enjoy his old age instead of meeting a terrible fate
Mate...I LOVE THIS!!! great analysis.
What-Is-Anti-Logic is one of the best movie critics..
His theories make u think really.Give it a try😶🌫️😶🌫️😶🌫️
🤦♀️
Good theory that the trailer park was spared due to Anton’s rare form of respect. However, his reaction was pretty clearly one of interrupted intent. Just his semi-surprised glance toward the door was enough to indicate a hiccup in his normally smooth poise. And the mildly fascinated smile at the lady was his amazed enjoyment of the buzzer-beater effect against monumental odds. Like the gas station guy, their whole lives had brought each of them to that moment, and a last-second glitch happened. She, all stoic and serious, cluelessly almost paid it all for interfering with his mission, (just like all the rest), while Anton stood fully in awed awareness of the anomaly.
I always thought that the scene with the sheriff opening the door while the movie make us think that Chigurh is on the other side was more of a reference to a coin toss like the sheriff has this feeling that the killer returned to the scene and he is either in the other side of that door or he isn’t and he is dreading finding out that’s why he hesitates and as the tension rises the coin is tossed we find out that he is actually not there
What-Is-Anti-Logic is one of the best movie critics..i love his theories❤❤❤❤❤
Dude just blatantly stole his video idea
Makes me wonder what else anglos have been stealing from colord folk :P
Totally actually 😏
Terrible take. When you get older, you’ll understand it more. He is definitely real.
Best comment
How was Moss injured? He was somehow on both sides of the door, and shot himself a door knob in the ribs for fun right? That makes so much sense. Wow.
Anti-Logic is an awesome guy. Glad to see you picking up on some of his stuff!
Yeah, try telling that to Carson Wells.
What’s so great about the book was all the characters came from a war and saw real violence and have to reckon with the “new violence” that is rising in the world. It’s brilliant.
Just a random guy who caught your random review of a movie I love (a thinking movie) - BTW 10 out of 10 IMO per your analysis of this movie.
I was going to call you out on "Suger" in the concept that his is the Angel of Death, perfect and all knowing, going Fate's (God's) work - but i had patients - so forced myself to hold off from commenting until your video concluded. Glad i did (your 47 minute mark confirmed my view on "Suger"). He thought he was Fate's instrument of will, but he was just a killer justifing his will as Fates instead. There was no need for him to shot at the crow - if he were objective per Fate - but he shot at it because of his nature, to kill - not Fate's nature. So that scene showed "Suger's" character as a killer and hypocrite. As for the Cat, Cat's scamper ("stranger danger") - I love cats, my best buddy is a cat, and she will scamper the second a stranger shows up - so "Suger" did not spare the cat out of some "code" - the cat just got the fk out of there then "Suger" killed his master.
7th Seal reference - WOW, never noticed it - i have both movies on Bluray - but ya "Suger" is in affect the Angel of Death in 7th Seal (I'm sure the Coen's know this and made in so - Coen's movies are both excellent and smart - so ya! they made the link, you noticed it, and I never did until now! - so thank you Sir!)
Moss - many think he was a good guy (he was good-ish). But when He died I did not cry. He had 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! chances (you make much about Fate vs Freewill - and I think this movie is ALL about it - that there is BOTH) Moss FAILED 1st when he found the Mexican alive (ask yourself what would you do? - Me? I'd ignore the money and call the police (Moss was in Nam - he would know a "gut shot" was only lethal if you don't get medics - well what did Moss do???????????????? (unlike ME (and I suspect YOU) - we would ignore the money and called the police to save the mexican's life - a moral test (which 95 precent of us would PASS)). Moss does not PAss that test, instead he ruminates for 8 hours - after taking the money - then FINALLY DOES THE RIGHT THING - after medically the guy would have died (and the other side shot him again through the window to make sure he was dead) - So ya Moss did the right thing (actually he didn't - the right thing would have been to call the police right then!) LATER (too little too late). So from that point onward, he freewill was forfitted to Fate.
BUT BUT BUT Fate gave Moss a SECOND CHANCE!!!!!!!!!! to do right!!!!!!!!! via the telephone conversation with "Suger" - and instead of "manning up and affirming Super was the professional - i.e. forfiting his own life to safe his Wifes, he Ego ups (chooses his own ego over humility in acknowledging him being over matched) and forfeits both his own life and his wife's life.
So no I was not broken up over his death - he was overmatched, and his ego refused to accept this (unlike Bell - who was more moral, I think if Bell was the one seeing the Mexican he would have called the cops right then and there - to save the mex's life over the money) Bell also had the WISDOM and HUMILITY (thanks to his Uncle (Northern Exposure TV guy) who was pure Wisdom and talked sense into Bell at the end (Bell was mostly there already) to know he was over matched and simply walked away before he ended up dead like Moss.
BTW slight dissagrement on Suger in one particular. Suger had the same greed as Moss and why he tracked him, for the money.
You stated "Suger" did not end up with the money, I always thought he did. Can we clarify this particular?
thanks for review of such an excellent movie (Coen's 3 best) Fargo is their best, Blood Simple (seems utterly forgotten today - and thier 1st film - is their 2nd best), Barton Fink is 4th best and also forgotten for some reason.
thanks again Sir - fully thought out and apt review of this movie - damn I'm impressed. Now I have to see what other movies you've analysised!
95% whew friendo you have a LOT of faith in humanity lol id say more like 50% would worry more for the person than the money nowadays. Most people would get their phones out and start doing a TikTok dance while dudes bleeding out 😂
Fr tho I agree with you, I also didn’t care when Moss died. He sucked. I was rooting for “Suger” as you call him, all except the wife (but it fits with his character). One flaw he had was relying on the “fate” of the coin to take the blame when it was really personal choice. The coin toss scene in the gas station is one of my top favorite scenes in movies period. Top 50 for sure (sounds like a lot but with the amount of great movies and shows out there it really isn’t). Chigur is and will always be one of my most beloved villains bc he’s just so memorable and is acted and written quite well, from the small mannerisms to the iconic haircut and weapon and complete lack of empathy or morals, he’s a perfect depiction of a psychopath without going over the top with ridiculous qualities …. like, say Jared Letos Joker from Suicide Squad….
@@HeatherHolt Ya I agree fully Heather Chigur was a 10 out of 10 pysho killer (not just a nut - i.e. American Psychotype/Joker/etc) - but one with character devolopment/traits that make you identify with him in some sort of realistic way. He performance was up there with Robert Walker's Bruno in Strangers on a Train, and Herny Fonda's Frank in Once Upon a Time in the West. Thanks for reply Madam. ;-).
Absolutely brilliant Theory Time my friend 👏🏾 👏🏾👏🏾
She wasn't saved by a toilet flush. She saved herself by being principled. That's why Anton let her live.
In connection to the theory i noticed the Sheriff has a double shadow cast on the door of the Motel at 5:17 with 1 looming larger, further hinting at Chigurh being a figment. I'm unsure if he's real or not but as we see in real crimes perpetrators place blame upon the Devil with the Sheriff struggling to comprehend that Man is so evil it holds up & it could be he's chalking up these crimes to an entity, fate or even the reaper. Especially as he wonders what older generations interpretations of the events would be. Very interesting either way.
Man Anton really was the best. God bless him and the actor who brought him to life. Wild stuff.
I really like this theory. Makes everything make more sense.
Side-ish note. I heard on the Small Beans videos about the Coen (?) Brothers that their view of the world is sort what you mentioned. They view that, I hope I'm paraphrasing correctly, life is just random. Things happen and then it's over. That's something they put into all their movies. Random stuff happens and in the end nothing really changes. You can see it in the Big Lebowsky, Hail Cesar, here, Burn Before Reading, and so on. Lots of stuff happens but in the end nothing really happens.
I have sciatica right now and the recovery is literally a pain in the ass but it's coming along. Best wishes on your recovery 🤞
Feel better soon, friend.
It's possible, I just thought that it was Bell's Imagination and it was his mind conjuring up Anton and it was his way of "facing the evil and also, the fear of losing his life to The Evil, which is Anton"... In a Way, Anton is kind of like a morally bound Michael Myers from Halloween in this movie. I think that your interpretation is very interesting and I also think that Anton, like MM in Halloween are like a Shadowy Shape of our fear of death in our subconscious mind and I also believe that the Coen brother's were possibly leaving that ending with Sheriff Bell open to our own interpretation of the scene. I personally don't think that he was physically In There (I think that the window was locked in the bathroom and Bell let's out a huge sigh of relief..., but, I Did go back and watched that scene again and you're right, the Shadow Is Gone... So, I guess that your interpretation of it can be true possibly, too. :) All In All, A Great Catch and Eye, Man... I never noticed that before... Again, it Really makes me think of the ending of Halloween again, when Loomis blows him over the balcony and he Was There... And Then... He's GONE... ☺️😊☺️😎😎😎😎😎😎😎🤙🤙🤙🤙🤙🍷🍷🍷🍷🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Bell was told of a bullet wound with no bullet, that’s why he was thinking of the bolt gun, he’s a detective and he was putting 2 & 2 together but couldn’t fully articulate his thought,
It didn’t mean Chigurh wasn’t real.
He is the personification of death tho, like Michael Myers
amen
What-Is-Anti-Logic is one of the best movie critics..
His theories make u think really.Give it a try😶🌫️😶🌫️😶🌫️
"It's not that the one theater has been continuously playing "Cannonball Run" for as long as anyone can remember. It's that, after the show, the audience splits off into groups to discuss the role of Dom Deluise as the Christ figure."
Thoughts on the scenes where Chigurh is discussed? For example, when the boss clarifies with Carson Wells that he has seen / can identify Anton Chigurh. Alternatively, Carson discussing Chigurh with Moss. Seems an odd choice if he doesn't exist and is the sheriff's fictional creation.
The “Chigurh and Moss are the same person” theory can be easily debunked by the fact that despite what this person says, they interact in both the book and the movie. They get into a shootout with each other, injuring each other, and speak to each other on the phone. Not to mention the fact that Chigurh is still alive after Moss’s death and goes on to kill his widow after she’s already aware of her husbands death as well.
The theory essentially becomes “Bell imagines this whole thing” which is just grasping at straws and you could hypothesize some kind of theory like that for every novel or film despite there being no evidence.
The story is deep enough. You don’t need to try to see things that aren’t there to be seen to make it seem deeper.
I just completed a personal edit on this film and was perplexed by the ambiguity of the symbolism. It's definitely there, but often very subtle or misplaced. The average viewer may never enjoy the movie without additional deep thought on the story and structure. Very good film
Theory time intros are getting more and more interesting, I love it
Yesterday I saw this movie for free here on YT. Now I got this, nice sync!
Nice review
Would love to see you do a break down of True Romance!
why...are you an alphabet pillow bi___?
What a great movie!
I did really like the comparison between No Country and “Good,Bad,Ugly”, I thought that was spot on.
I do believe Chigurh is real though,
There’s the dime and vent opened at the end of the movie suggesting Chigurh came to where Moss was killed, off camera, looked in the vent, and found the money. Hence why he has money to give the kid on the bike after his car accident.
And he also had the interaction with Moss’s wife after her mom’s funeral, I don’t think the audience would have seen that if he was imaginary...
I feel like I should watch this
People died . They had a gunfight . He gets shot , people are murdered . This just ridiculous . The variances in perspective are the mid games that are played on people from their own perspective
You forgot to mention that he also killed the guy that moss tried to get away from before the shoot out. The guy in the truck who got shot in the throat....
I can imagine Llewelyn in his fugue state going to the rental park office because he forgot who he was.
The lady there be like,"We don't give no information!"
Weirdest bit for me in this movie was that there is no soundtrack at all, but on Moss's hat there are musical staff and notes all around it. I'm still not sure what this is representing, if anything at all, but seems to have been purposefully done.
I’ve always wondered if all this is a dream like he has been having and it’s him thinking hell “ what if something like this happens?” And the parts where he talks to his friend and wife is just him scared of the dreams deciding to retire.
you forgot to explain the firefight between Moss and Chigur.
First off there's two rooms, Bell chooses the one without Chigurh and gets to live: mirroring his coin flip
As for the cattle slaughterer: he used a regular gun, not a bolt gun. Thats how the bullet was able to ricochet into him, there is no projectile that can ricochet with the bolt gun: it is an extending (but captive) ram.
The point of him mentioning how they use bolt guns now is to illustrate that he knows about them, and might even be able to make the connection to the random motorist... he just doesn't even consider using a cattle slaughtering implement on people because he's not cut out to deal with this kind of criminal
I took my socks off after work and drank milk on the couch today. I am Chigurh, too. We can all be Chigurh!
Cool analysis
Super fun theory, I don't really buy it but given that it's Cormac McCarthy I absolutely see where you're coming from. There are many people that theorize that the judge and the kid from blood meridian are the same person.
Wow that’s a wild theory right there. Blood Meridian is nuts.
I wonder if the similarity between the name "Chigurh" and the insect "chigger" or "jigger" was intentional. They're actually two different insects, but are so often confused that they're basically interchangeable. Jiggers are those parasitic worm-like things that burrow into and live under the skin of their host.
I think this connection works; Chigurh, a psycopath, really is something like a civilizational parasite. Goodness creates a space in which evil can thrive - a blind spot where evil can lurk. Once we become so detached from our antecedents that we forget about man's intrinsic love of violence, we become unable to comprehend Chigurh, and consequently unable to stop him. He's imbedded in our society like a transponder in a stack of bills. Like a repressed shadow within a psyche.
Sugar definitely exists.
Don’t forget Ed Tom at the end of the film telling his wife about two dreams he had. He specifically calls out that both has his dad in it and that it’s peculiar because he’s older than his Dad ever was by 20 years, so his Dad in fact looked younger than him. The first dream was about his dad giving him in those dreams money in town and he thinks he lost it (major plot of the film). The second dream was about his dad going on ahead on horseback to make a campfire (signifying that he’s died and wants to shine a light so Ed Tom) could find him when he dies.
The piece about Anton waiting behind the door and then not being there could also be deceptive. When the camera starts panning into the door it starts from 2x doors back and it looks like the lock was blown from the neighbouring door. So a real Anton could have been there mimicking the shenanigans at the motel with multiple rooms next door to each other.
Awesome movie.
Something no one seems to want to address (or be aware of TO address) is the milk bottle. WHO drinks out of a random milk bottle that's been left out on the coffee table? It doesn't matter that it's still cold - what if the LAST person drank straight from the bottle? And what of preserving any potential forensic evidence sitting in/on that milk bottle? Yet Sheriff Ed Tom simply grabs the closest glass, pours, and starts sipping! I would NEVER! You can't know WHERE that milk bottle has been - or who's been at it, with their possible Hepatitis C etc.! I find it plausible that Anton Chigurh is the "shadow" of Ed Tom Bell - but WHO killed Carla Jean? She appears *familiar* with him; she seems to *recognize* him and know why he's there.
Exactly. Also, Llewelyn probably killed the cartel members, during the drug deal, in actuality. He then took the bag of money, with the tracker, which was the "McGuffin". Carsen Wells didn't actually exist either. These were all just characters in the mind of Tommy Lee Jones, to explain the violent actions of the actual cartel members, allowing him to cope with the entire situation. Any character that didn't actually interact with Tommy Lee Jones, was probably just a character in his story.
This reminds me of people saying o dogg and Kane are the same person. If you cut out a few scenes it makes sense.
What-Is-Anti-Logic is one of the best movie critics..
His theories make u think really.
Everyone should give it a try😶🌫️😶🌫️😶🌫️
It would make sense for Anton not exist to the sheriff but luwelyn definitely was being chased by Anton his tangibility was the literal gate in front of heaven
Moss was being chase by the blue SUV that killed him!
you can see it in multiple frames and if I can remember right you always see it from below until the final shot of it fleeing the scene then we get a shot of it driving away while the camera pans up.
I don't know for sure what McCarthy's intentions are, but you can make a pretty good case that the Judge and the Kid in Blood Meridian are the same guy as well.
This seems like a stretch. There are clues, or Anton "calling cards." that Bell discovers during the movie that only Anton would leave. The bolt gun was 100% real- the first deputy who is killed by Anton first tells Bell about him having "an oxygen tank for emphysema or somethin," no bullet or exit wound was found in the head of the highway victim, locks were punched out at Llewelyn's trailer and the hotel scenes visited by Bell, etc. And honestly....who, other than Anton, would have poured themselves a glass of milk after breaking into Llewelyn's trailer??
Perhaps my favorite non-sci fi / fantasy movies of all time. Definitely in the Top 3. (There Will Be Blood / Unforgiven).
He has to exist: when he goes and kills Milton Waddams, Milton clearly recognizes him, the guy in the truck asks Brolin for help, if Brolin was Anton, he would’ve recognized him as a cleaner and would have been scared instead of asking for help and talking about lobos
And when he kills the girl at the end she does not recognize him and says she knew he was crazy as soon as she seen him sitting there
He does exist, and he exits in the book. Yet he has a supernatural element, as his evil has an existential quality.
To this day, I never understood why that lady survived meeting Chigurh, I never heard the toilet flush.
Moss and Chigurh are the same person.
Next you should break down Jack "REACHER." love the chanel
Got a breakdown of the ending of season 2 if you want to check it. Thanks for the support.
Hollywood needs the old-school auteurs like the Coen brothers more than ever
Don't depend to heavily on evidence that supports a theory. Instead. look for evidence that refutes your theory.
There is an exercise in which the student is given a list of numbers. The numbers are given according to some rule, the student then forms a theory of what the rule might be, and they provide a list of four numbers and asks if the list follows the rule.
So lets say the starting list is 2, 4, 8, and 16.
There are a number of rules r=that could fit here and the student usually starts out with the obvious. Each list is independent including being independent of the teachers list.
You give a list, 20, 40, 80, 160, 320. This list complies with the rule, but the rule is not, double of the preceding number.
The student can try and try to figure out the rule by guessing what the rule might be then providing a list of numbers that complies with that rule. But this problem is designed in a way that you can't guess the rule in this way. The way to work out the rule is to provide a list of numbers that does not comply with the theory of the rule.
In this case the rule is, each number must be greater than the number before. And so, you can work out the rule by giving a list like 2, 3, 4, 1. This list does not comply with the rule.
Science actually works by working what theories are wrong. A lot of times you find this out quickly. But sometimes a theory survives each test they come up with, If it survives you gain confidence in the theory. If not you abandon the theory because it is wrong.
Okay, so try it.
but before you bring up this scene or that scene remember, this is a story being told by tommy lee's character and its not facts being shown its a story being told by someone with a very small role in it, that admits he got the whole thing wrong from the start.
I dont know this movie very well, and I haven't seen it since I saw it in the theater, but one thing I noticed is that the two people that we have to assume weren't questioned - the heavyset lady and the gas station clerk - they both seemed to be older than Chigurh. So maybe that's why they were spared. Did he meet/talk/interact with anyone else who was older than him?
Chicken farmer.
Hotel clerk, who wasn't mentioned in this video.
Thank you Paul for breaking down this movie! I just watched the previous video about this movie and I'm watching this one. It has reignited my interest in this movie. With a deeper understanding of what I had missed all those years ago. So later today I will be watching this movie with fresh eyes. Keep covering the classics my friend!
Ey thank you man, glad it’s made you go back to it
@@heavyspoilersnice job plagiarizing what is anti logic
Thanks for telling me where you got this from. I decided to watch whatisantilogic's one before yours. Got halfway through (about the time he posits his theory) before thinking, perhaps if he read the Cormac Mccarthy book on which the script is based, he'd find the answer. I have read it and sorry but cannot help you as I found the book a bit boring and disappointing and can't really remember it. But if you're interested in knowing people's motivations, etc, try reading the source material.
I like this and it honestly makes this movie easier to explain. LMK what you think.
" 'K' from MIB is a sheriff who tells the story of his last investigation before retirement about a series of cartel hits which took place in an attempt to retrieve money from the hunter who took it from the deal-gone-wrong; Thanos. Not even the great Woody Harelson can survive the horde of cartel killers personified into a single, super-hinged/super-unhinged psychopath killer who isn't real even though we watch him kill everyone except the main characters"
Best Western Ever. Unbeatable and they knew it when they made it out of the book. It's in the name.
I think Chighur is real. he's behind the hotel door. he leaves while Bell's in the bathroom. in his haste to leave he pulls down the crime tape. notice the tape shadows before and after.
We saw behind the door when Bell swung it open though. He wasn't there.
we really don't. all we see is a dark corner and the door hit the wall at a 45° angle. plenty of room there to hide. when he comes out of the bathroom the tape is down and the door is no longer against the wall.
After DNA evaluation of a piece of clothing from the victim, it's pretty widely accepted that Aaron Kosminski was Jack the Ripper.
He fit the physical descriptions police had of The Ripper as well.
A victim. Damned phome keyboard.
I totally believe this theory. When I watched it I said how is this guy everywhere. It would seem that it's not one guy but the cartel and the old sheriff is trying to make sense of it. To put all of the cartel's actions on one person.
That’s what makes him such a terrifying character tho. Hes a symbol for chance and death, around any corner, almost unstoppable. If he doesn’t exist, and it’s not some deep philosophical thing like with fight club (inner struggle), then it completely negates the weight of his character. The Cohens aren’t those type of directors IMO. It’s too grounded of a story and source material to delve into “he didn’t exist” or “it was all a dream” troupes.
I’m late 🤦🏾♀️ but I’m here 😁 Also, Algorithm 👍🏾
1st and last time watching. "Only good guy that lives" spoiler was a bit of a bummer. Haven't watched it yet. No biggie. I like the premise of the video
This is one of the takes on Chigurh I’ve ever seen.
Remember how Bell said he thought he would meet God and didn't? Well he did in Anton Chigurh
Great theory. All one has to do is watch the movie closely and can see Chigur is actually real. So its wrong, but very detailed video
I love this theory!
Thank you Paul.
I love your analysis here. But i was really very much intrigued by the fact that Llewelyn Moss and Chigurh had so many similar experiences that mirrored each other. I think there is something more that needs to be explored there. As if they are two sides of the same coin. Also we never actually see them meet face to face do we?? I don't even remember. LOL. I know there was a shootout but the Coen Brothers are careful to specifically make sure that the audience never sees the two men come face to face. So the theory of the narrator's Bogeyman has some merit.
Bell never says anything about a bolt gun to Carla Jean. Mentions a maul slitting the neck and the beef comes to. Pissed off pulls his gun. With all that thrashing it causes a glance shot and a ricochet shot that hits him in the shoulder. So no mention of a bolt gun.
I really enjoy your videos,but this one is way off. In addition to the many obvious holes in this theory pointed out by other commenters, Wells talks ABOUT Chigurh to both Moss and the corporate drug dealer in the office.
Also, did Moss kill the corporate guy? And Wells?
Secondly, make sure you have the details straight if this is to be an analysis. Bell’s opening monologue doesn’t refer to a “child abduction” but to the murder of a 14-year-old girl.
Later, you confused two different stories that Bell tells to Carla Jean: one about a man who tried to shoot a steer with a handgun and was instead struck by the ricochet of his own bullet, and another about the use of captive-bolt pistols to kill steer.
The first serves as an analogy for the unpredictable nature of life. The second represents either Bell’s subconscious mind making a connection between the dead man by the road and a slaughterhouse tool which would cause exactly the type of mysterious wound found on the dead man, or his conscious theory that this was the murder weapon. He would likely have taken a clue from what the murdered deputy said on the phone. We don’t know if he was speaking to Bell or a different sheriff, but he says that the man who he’s just arrested had “some kind of air tank” with him. After learning of the mysterious wound on the second victim by the side of the road, and knowing that the perpetrator had an air tank when he was arrested, but that it wasn’t found at the station and had to be in the killer’s possession, it’s likely that he would have eventually thought of the captive-bolt pistol.
Lastly, to say that Bell “didn’t see how Moss died” is untrue. He didn’t see the bullets strike him, but he heard the gunfire as he approached the motel, saw Mexicans with guns fleeing the scene, a wounded Mexican with an automatic weapon and shell casings everywhere…he’d have to be a really bad cop not to figure that one out.
Anyway, I guess you can’t win ‘em all. Still a big fan of the channel.
Oh one more thing- just about everyone in the world takes off their socks. Moss does so in order to spray his banged up feet with antibacterial spray to prevent infection. Chigurh does this in multiple settings to move stealthily towards his target. He removes the socks in the motel shootout because they were bloody. In most of his violent acts, he’s standing far enough away, typically firing a gun, that he wouldn’t be near the blood. He had to go through the entire motel room to ensure that he had killed everyone and to search for the money. In doing so, his socks became bloody.
I believe the point of the film is to show the real aftermath of war. Look at all the criminality in the movie, it's fueled by the Vietnam War. All the vets in the movie all the criminals with guns. This film takes place in a similar time period to Lethal Weapon which has similar themes.