True Grit (2010)
Certified: 12
Duration: 110 minutes
Directed by: Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring: Hailee Steinfeld, Jeff Bridges, Josh Brolin, Matt Damon, Barry Pepper
KRS release
In their decision to direct a remake of Henry Hathaway’s classic 1969 Western True Grit that starred the iconic John Wayne, the Coen brothers have shown true grit indeed. The resulting film may become a classic as much as the original film or perhaps even more.
The Coen brothers have stayed loyal to the source material; they pay homage to John Ford’s classic westerns and present modern audiences with a really good tale. Highly atmospheric, mean and funny at the right moments, True Grit has an elegiac feel to it – a sort of mourning for a genre, for a breed of men and also for a different era.
The film is set in the wild and dangerous west of the 1870s. Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) is just 14 years old but she is much more mature than many an adult. Her father has just been killed by handyman Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin). The girl from Arkansas wants justice and she wants to see it done with her own eyes. She arrives into town to settle her father’s business instead of her mother who is distraught.
Chaney has also murdered a senator and is thus followed by Texas Marshall La Boeuf (Matt Damon). The latter is quite a dandy and only infuriates Mattie as he does not take her seriously; she also does not agree with La Beouf’s wish to take Chaney to Texas. Meanwhile, the criminal has escaped into wild Indian territory and has teamed up with companion Lucky Ned Pepper (Barry Pepper).
So Mattie decides to get a federal marshal to take her to find Chaney and bring him to justice. Her eyes fall on veteran Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) who is known for getting his man and also for bringing him in dead. Rooster wants the job but he is doing everything he can to leave the girl behind.
True Grit does not have that edgy unpredictability that The Coen brothers’ work usually has. Yet True Grit stands tall with the best of their oeuvre. The film has been imbued with a rigid authenticity. Coupled with Roger Deakins’s exquisite cinematography and the excellent performances, True Grit succeeds on a variety of levels.
The sibling’s emphasis on authenticity is also found in the stiff and old sounding speech styles that the characters use. This may make it difficult sometimes to understand what some of the characters are saying exactly, especially Mr Bridges’ Rooster Cogburn. The Coens’ script seems to have more in common with the 1968 Charles Portis novel than the 1969 film did.
Unsurprisingly enough, in a time when all pundits are saying that the western genre is over and done with, The Coens have turned out their most financially successful film to date. Made on a budget of $38 million the film has so far garnered more than $230 million.
True Grit works as it has such a wild trio of unlikely heroes that it’s impossible to not like the film on so many different levels. Mr Bridges’s incredible performance is a beauty to behold but he never overshadows the others in the same way that John Wayne did in the 1969 version. This creates a much more balanced and even film.
Mr Bridges is melancholic in a role that is full of self awareness of a man who no longer has a place in the modern world. He is simply being overtaken by the times. Hailee Steinfeld provides the film with a heart and a performance that is beyond her age.
Once again The Coens have gone beyond my expectations. What is surprising is the manner in which they have done it. This is an ode to the west, to John Ford and to the time when men were still given the chance to be men. That is the essence of the western which here is captured succinctly.