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Labour strife has been topping the bill in Hollywood of late, yet you wouldn't have known it from the weekend's awards shows: The town's elite seemed more interested in celebrating, and "No Country for Old Men" emerged as the movie to beat at the Academy Awards.

Only one winner at the Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild of America awards overtly mentioned the union matters that derailed the Golden Globes and jeopardizes the season's biggest party, the Academy Awards on 24^th February.

Sunday night's SAG awards did have its serious side, with the recent death of Heath Ledger weighing heavily on everyone's minds and prompting a passionate tribute from lead-actor winner Daniel Day-Lewis of the oil-boom epic "There Will Be Blood."

But mostly it was all about Joel and Ethan Coen, brothers who have done it their way with more than 20 years worth of odd and idiosyncratic films and now seem poised to collect the industry's highest honours.

The Coens' crime saga "No Country for Old Men" won the directing honour on Saturday at the Directors Guild awards, while co-star Javier Bardem earned SAG's supporting-actor prize and the guild chose the film for best cast performance.

"No Country" is a wild, bloody ride as a ruthless killer (supporting actor winner Javier Bardem) relentlessly traces a stash of missing drug money.

True to the Coen spirit, the film spins into wildly unexpected places and leaves cryptic loose threads at the end.

"The Coen brothers are freaky little people, and we did a freaky little movie - whether you liked the ending or not," said "No Country" co-star Josh Brolin as he accepted the cast prize on behalf of the ensemble.