"I think they're all waiting for the ending," Old Man film goer continuing his film length audio commentary when No Country For Old Men cuts to black.

"I don't think I liked it at all," Old Woman after a different showing of the same film.

It is unsettling. And slow. And if you're waiting for a mystery to be solved, then it's probably infuriating as well.

No Country For Old Men was the big winner at the Oscars a few weeks back, which made a lot of people who probably wouldn't have seen the movie go check it out. Which is fine, people need to stretch beyond their comfort levels from time to time.

I originally saw it during the heady days leading up to the Christmas holidays. There weren't a ton of people in the theater. Since much of the movie was shot in New Mexico (in Albuquerque, and also up north near Las Vegas), there was an old couple who felt compelled to check it out. They weren't too loud (but the movie is rather silent at times, so gasps and comments are rather noticeable--as is the shuffle to leave the theater after another grisly murder), but they did mutter exasperatedly about it as they left the theater.

It took me a while to figure out the ending (Tommy Lee Jones realizes that retirement is no place for him, and maybe it would have been better to die on the job like his dad and others of his lawman profession). But it's not like the movie is about a twist ending, it's about listening and realizing you can't stop the world.

And it's about how you might feel the world has passed you by when you're old. It ain't gonna change back to the "good old days" just to make you feel better. That, and, maybe it is better live fast and die young, rather than grow old and die feeling useless.

At least these are thoughts I've had after seeing it a couple of times.

The second time I saw it at the cheap flicks. Mondays are "family" days, so if you go with another person, it's only fifty cents a ticket. There are bargains these days if you look in the right places.

The house was pretty packed that second viewing. It was the blue hair crowd, for the most part. Old couples checking out a movie they'd skipped when it first came out. The Old Man started his commentary pretty early.

"They're teaching all the criminals how to break into our houses! They're all gonna get one of those gadgets now!"

I put exclamation points, even though he probably didn't realize how loud he was talking. He also didn't care that people were telling him to shut up or "shhhh!" throughout the proceedings. When you pay fifty cents a ticket, you pretty much buy the whole ride, including rude old men.

"He's got his gadget again!"

I said part of the point of the movie is to listen, and that's something this guy would not do. Maybe he was deaf, which meant the only way he could figure out what was happening was visually. But he would not wait for the movie to explain itself. If he didn't get what was happening right off in a scene, he let us all know. And then, when he figured it out, he let us know that, too.

It also means he missed the point of the movie. He talked over most of Tommy Lee Jones' dream recount at the end. And he's probably going to call his security system people to put in a door bolt that can withstand "that gadget" here pretty soon. For an old man who can't hear, this guy is really worried someone is going to break into his place and kill him for no reason. It's not like the guy is staying alive to see another movie like this.

You gotta let it unfold. Don't try to figure out where its going (the destination is not the point), just watch, listen and muse over it later.

Y'know, like the way everyone in the movie reacts to the sight of too much money (the young fight over it or ask for more, the old people don't understand the overpayment). Or the strange immorality of it all. You get the feeling we're not gonna make it as a species. And not just because the dollar is worth about as much as it was when the movie is set (1980).

It's okay that mouthy old men don't get the movie. Or that people think the killer is the angel of death. And is the lesson learned here something about how you shouldn't go back to the scene of a crime--even to bring water to a dying man? That we really shouldn't care about anyone other than ourselves?

I'd say this movie is supposed to make old people not want to go to the movies anymore, but that would be too much to ask for, really.

Matt Worley lives eleven blocks or so from where one of the murder scenes was shot.

"I told you, the Mexicans did it! They took the money! It was the Mexicans!" -- Once again, the audible thoughts of the Old Man.