9/22/16 - Kada Cernek

We started off class today by discussing the likes and dislikes of our summer reading book chats. We discussed the topic of book chat size a lot. Some people in the classroom felt as though their group was too big and therefore ineffective in having a quality discussion on the book. However, some people thought their group was too small and found it very hard to hold a conversation. I personally had a book chat of 96 people for the book Me Before You. I found the large group to be very effective as a lot of ideas were thrown around and there was never a lull in conversation. The class also unanimously decided that the book chat should not be graded. Then, we started the film No Country For Old Men. We watched about 25 minutes of the movie and got a great deal of plot and setting. The movie started yesterday with Chigurh murdering two people within the first two scenes of the movie. Today we watched Chigurh kill two more people. We also saw a scene where he interacted with a man running the gas station. This scene taught us a lot about Chigurh's character but also left the viewers curious and unsettled. Personally, I found myself very confused and uneasy after the scene had ended, to the point where I turned to Mr. Rivers and said "I have no idea what just happened." Mr. Rivers said we would discuss that scene at a later date and analyze why Chigurh acted the way he did and also why the director chose the choices he did such as having Chigurh speak in such a monotone voice, or how the coin came into play. Also in the film today, we met Llewelyn Moss, another main character. Moss was out hunting when he unfortunately came across the after math of a drug deal. Moss's curiosity got the worst of him and led him to become involved in the situation by taking a briefcase of cash that he finds. Eventually Chigurh picks up on his trail, which I'm sure will not end well, however, we stopped the film there for the day. At the end of today's viewing, we were told to make one strong sentence on any content from the first 25 minutes of the movie. We were told to use our active verbs and narrow ourselves in on one piece of content. I made my sentence about the silence used throughout the film to create suspense and uneasiness. Also, it forces the viewer to rely on their visuals rather relying on dialogue to answer their questions. So far, this film has me unsettled and feeling very lost. I am not a fan, but hopefully I can be persuaded by the end of the movie.