True Grit ~~~ 1/2

I’m a part-time Coen brothers film fan. Some I like (No County for Old Men), some I don’t (Burn After Reading) but either way, I seem to be able to see what they were trying to get at.

With ‘True Grit’, and bearing in mind I haven’t seen the original 1969 John Wayne version, I think I know what they wanted to do. I saw their vision in my mind’s eye but not through my actual eyes. I hope that makes some sense?

At the outset, it’s a great story. 14 year old Mattie Ross wants to avenge her father’s murder by the alcohol fuelled, no-gooder Tom Chaney. She sets out to exact justice on him but needs help. Travelling to the town in which all the action has taken place, and without her widowed, and possibly ineffectual, mother, Mattie hunts down the best man for the job. Given the choice between the Texas Ranger LaBoeuf, played wonderfully by Matt Damon as a curmudgeonly but experienced outlaw hunter and the infamous lawman Rooster Cogburn played very ably by Jeff Bridges on best mumbling and grizzled form, she chooses the latter and goes about getting him prepared for a journey into ‘Injun’ territory.

Mattie herself is quite a character. Exact, clipped and decisive she’s a girl with a mission and nothing, bar actual kidnap or snakes, is going to stop her. Whether I actually liked the character or not, is a tricky thing. She is the heart of the story, both literally and actually, and compared to the dusty, drunk but experienced men, she is light relief however, the very nature of her bossy, bible-quoting and hard-edged character does little to make the viewer warm to her. Hailee Steinfeld is very watchable and sure to be star of the future but in this role, quite difficult to love. Respect, yes, love? No. Nevertheless, the trio end up on the baddies trail and cause havoc as they ride.

It’s all pretty exciting and bloody but something seemed to be missing. There’s plenty of trueness going on but not as much ‘grit’ as I’d hoped. Damon’s LaBoeuf is played a tad too buffoony at times, but I actually liked that. Bridges’ Cogburn is barely comprehensible throughout – the more sozzled he is the better his slur! Ra, rar, arar, rarar... that's part of the script as delivered by Bridges' wonderfully pissed Rooster Cogburn. Again, perhaps a little too much effort went into this aspect of the character, but I enjoyed it.

The scenery of the Wild West goes rather unnoticed, which is a real shame. Whilst the towns and building scenery are replicated pretty realistically for the period, the focus remains on the characters which makes sense but it would have been nice to have had the ‘fourth character’, of the great outdoors, more at the forefront.

What I always love about Coen brothers’ films is their sense of humour. Throughout ‘True Grit’ the audience does get a good dollop of laughs. I think what may have been missing was the true ‘grit’ to balance it all out.

The story was slightly ruined by an opening which included the older Mattie narrating the story. Not only did this skew my expectation of her character’s future throughout the film but also impacted on my overall feelings towards her. It would have been better not to have included these scenes and to have allowed the audience to develop their own theory as to what the ending might be.

Overall, True Grit is a very enjoyable but slightly flawed coming of age / end of an era tale of altruism and human bonding. More often than not, people need each other. Not only to help them through difficult times but for the sake of their own sanity and spirit. ‘True Grit’ made it clear to me that both reasons are true but proved equally as much that one cannot be sentimental, one must go on alone.

I look forward to seeing this understated but essentially successful dusty gem again in the near future. I love westerns!

23rd February 2011