Coen Brothers

Sheriff Bell's dreams at the end of No Country for Old Men sum up his feeling about what has happened. The first dream is about how his father gave him something and he lost it. This can be interpreted in many ways. In psychology we learned that dreams of losing something usually mean thoughts of failure so it is possible that he feels that he has failed his father in not being able to stop Chigur from continuing his rampage after the money. At the beginning of the film he talks of how he believes that his father was proud of him when he became a sheriff at the same time, but his father died before he retired and now retiring is in his mind sort of him quiting before his job is done. The second dream where his father rides past him going on ahead to start a fire in the middle of a storm. This can mean that his father has passed on before him and left him alone to find his own way through this madness but when he gets there he will be able to find shelter again with his father having set up a fire ahead. And the last words "Then I woke up" can be taken to mean that he never gets there to meet back with his father. Also the use of those words as the last of the movie makes you think that this whole disaster has been like a nightmare for him and now it is over, he is through it and now he has to move on.

"Pessimystic" River

Eastwood outdoes himself in this film. He weaves many complicated story lines together into this masterpiece. With the use of flashbacks and low key lighting he sets the mood for the sadness that progressively builds as the story unfolds. The plot is centered around three childhood friends, Jimmy Sean and Dave, who have grown apart in recent years due to one traumatic event in their past when Dave was abducted by pedophiles. Now their lives once again are intertwined as the the circumstances of the death of Jimmy's daughter lead them to look to each other in search of answers.
Both Jimmy and Sean play classic Eastwood characters in that they will do what ever it takes to fix things. Jimmy who was a main man in the Savage Brothers gang and since cleaned up his life reverts back to his old ways in order to solve his daughter's murder. Much like Eastwood's character in Unforgiven reverts back to his old ways at the end for one last killing. And the character of Sean is a cop who does what must be done to bring to the surface the real truth about the events. Though Eastwood would usually be playing one of the more bad ass roles in his movies he is far to old to play these characters so he only directs this movie.
Another trend that i have noticed in Eastwood's movies are characters who come from broken families. In Million Dollar Baby the the main character grows up without a father. In Grand Turino the Asian kid also has no father to look after him. And in this movie we find that the dead girl's boyfriend grows up without a father. All these characters who play pivotal roles in the plot come from broken pasts.
Once again the ending of the movie leaves me depressed andwondering why we picked Eastwood as our director. But then again the movie was well made and sends a powerful message and that can't be overlooked so it wasn't bad. I'm going to watch some happy movies before I watch another Eastwood movie that's for sure.