No Country for Old Men

The Coens’ crowning achievement adapts Cormac McCarthy’s modern-day western novel into a profoundly pessimistic contemplation of a society enraptured by violence and material gain, intertwined in a tense execution that looks into fate, coincidence, greed and stubbornness. When a Vietnam veteran stumbles upon a drug deal gone awry in the Texas desert, he cannot resist the allure of an abandoned bag of cash. Soon enough he is on the run from both an ageing sheriff, despondent about a world he views as beyond redemption, as well as a remorseless hitman, the chilling personification of the inevitability of destiny. Strikingly brutal, the eerily frightening Javier Bardem becomes one of the greatest film villains of all-time.

Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay