Movie Tagline: There are no clean getaways
No Country for Old Men, adapted from a novel by Cormac McCarthy, won the Academy Award for Best Picture. That's usually not a great way to measure how good a movie is, but in this case it is no small feat considering the tidal wave of amazing movies that were released in 2007. Namely: There Will Be Blood, Zodiac, Michael Clayton, Juno, Gone Baby Gone, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Into the Wild, Atonement, Eastern Promises, My Winnipeg, Hot Fuzz, Lars and the Real Girl, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Taxi to the Dark Side, American Gangster, Grindhouse, Persepolis, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, The Orphanage, La Vie en Rose, Ratatouille, Rescue Dawn, Knocked Up, Sunshine, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and I'm Not There. That's nearly 30 movies that could (and in many cases, did) define a person's career. They are all outstanding movies from such renowned directors as Paul Thomas Anderson, David Fincher, Ridley Scott, David Cronenberg, Ben Affleck, Julian Schnabel, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Guy Maddin, Judd Apatow, Todd Haynes, Danny Boyle, Jason Reitman, Edgar Wright, Werner Herzog, and Sidney Lumet. So, to say that the Coen Brothers made the best movie of the year (according to whatever old white dudes choose who gets to win things like that) is, in this case, a staggering achievement. But, anyway, that's just a tangent about how awesome 2007 was for movie fans. To get to the matter at hand: No Country for Old Men is the story of a drug deal gone awry and the fallout that ensues. That's a tidy little log line that doesn't come anywhere close to describing the chaos and dread that unfolds onscreen. Even people who have never seen the movie are most likely aware of the most memorable thing in it: Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh, a dead-eyed sociopath with a weirdo haircut that kills people with, among other things, a Captive Bolt Pistol. Chigurh is the stuff of nightmares; he would not be out of place in a straight-up horror movie. He is a reptile in a human suit, and he is absolutely mesmerizing to watch. But he is just one piece of the bloody puzzle that is No Country. There are also inspired performances from Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, Kelly MacDonald, and Woody Harrelson, not to mention the supremely talented supporting cast. In addition to the cast, the Coen Brothers relied on esteemed cinematographer Roger Deakins to saturate the landscapes of Texas with sepia tones and tension. Working with natural light for the daytime scenes and brooding shadows in the night scenes, Deakins brings a strong sense of film noir to the story, which makes perfect sense for a tale this bleak and pessimistic. Not many beers can compete with a movie with such a pedigree. Thankfully, we have Stone Brewing around to bring us the sadistic Crime. You know Stone founder Greg Koch has a mind as dark as Cormac McCarthy's when he comes up with something like this. A blend of Arrogant Bastard Ale, Double Bastard Ale, and Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale, each aged in their own Kentucky bourbon barrels, with criminal amounts of serrano, jalapeƱo, and who-knows what other chile peppers added to up the ante even more. The result is not for the faint of heart. It's a beer made for the masochist in all of us. It all starts with a blast of hops, which then mellows into a nice, rich bourbon flavor, and finishes with a peppery heat that is downright incendiary. This beer is as challenging to drink as No Country is to watch, making it one of the few beers in existence that can stand up to such a masterpiece of visual flair and complex storytelling. This pairing does, however, come with a couple of conditions. For one thing, Crime is not what you would call "readily available". Many times it comes as a shared case with its companion beer, Punishment. Meaning that if a store gets any of these beers, they only get six bottles of each. Many don't even get that. So it can be a bit of a task to even find a bottle of Crime. And, if you do, you should be prepared to pay $20 for it. And again, if you make it that far, you still have to drink it, and that can be difficult in and of itself. So, in an attempt to offset the whole rigamarole of obtaining and drinking one of these limited, aggressively flavored beers, we are going to throw in a secondary pairing to last you through the rest of the movie and hopefully cool your mouth off a little. So, after you have seared your taste buds off with Crime, you're going to want to move on to a Lone Star. Or, rather, a series of consecutive Lone Stars. Called the "National Beer of Texas", because Texas isn't interested in your so-called facts, this American Lager will be perfectly flavorless after the endurance contest that is Crime, allowing you to throw them back with abandon. That will help you deal with the morality (or lack thereof) and other adult issues being put forth in No Country for Old Men. And since the movie is largely set in Texas, drinking Lone Star keeps you on topic. So, in conclusion, this pairing is much more of a challenge than our usual pairings. But it is a highly rewarding challenge. One that will put you through the wringer both physically and emotionally, sure, but "adversity is the diamond dust Heaven polishes its jewels with". There's a cute little quote from Thomas Carlyle to make you feel better about burning your taste buds off while simultaneously losing all faith in humanity. You're welcome.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AboutThis is the page where the pairings live. They are over there, to the left of what you are currently reading. I don't know how you missed them. Archives
August 2016
Categories
All
|