"True Grit" - 2010 - movie review

"True Grit" is at once the Coen brother's most inexplicable and satisfying film to date. Inexplicable because it's largely (not entirely) shorn of the "We're smarter than you and we know it" attitude that hovers around even the best of their previous work and satisfying because by taking their egos largely out of the equation they've done justice to a story that was given short shrift in an earlier incarnation where everything had been designed to highlight the fading attributes of the film's star.

The story, set in the Oklahoma Territory of the late 19th century, tells the tale of 14 year old Mattie Ross and her quest for vengeance following the murder of her father by a drifter named Tom Chaney. Her mother is incapable of handling business affairs and her brother is too young so Mattie is sent to collect her father's body and tie up any loose ends left by his death. She decides that, for her, nothing short of seeing Tom Chaney dangling from the end of a rope will do and so she sets about first to raise some money and then to use that money to secure the services of Marshall Rooster Cogburn. The two of them will pursue Chaney into the Indian Territory where he is believed to have fled. Along the way they pick up a Texas Ranger named LaBoeuf who is also after Chaney for the murder of a Texas state senator. Neither Cogburn nor BaBoeuf is eager for Mattie to come along, feeling she'll do nothing but slow them down. But they have grossly underestimated the pluck of Cogburn's young employer who will simply not be denied.

The casting, as is usually the case with a Coen brothers film, is spot on. While it's a more typically mainstream cast than we've come to expect from the brother's it seems appropriate given the fact that the Coen's here are making as close as they're ever likely to come to a "Hollywood movie". Matt Damon gives an excellent supporting performance as the stiff but well-intentioned Texas Ranger. Hailie Steinfeld projects a force uncommon in actors many years her senior and Josh Brolin makes a first rate western baddie: barely literate, unkempt, ornery and lost. But this film belongs to Jeff Bridges or, I should say, Rooster Cogburn. Because Bridges is so good that, unlike the so-called "legend" who play Cogburn in the story's 1969 incarnation, you never feel like you're watching Jeff Bridges Movie Star. He respects the character, warts and all. While there are aspects of Cogburn's character that lend themselves to less than flattering judgements it must be remembered that this is Mattie's story; told with her narration, through her eyes. At first she's wary of him and impatient with his shortcomings so naturally she sees him as buffoonish and Bridge's portrayal reflects this. Later, as her appreciation for his perseverance, stoicism in the face of brutality and commitment to her and her quest grow it is these qualities that leak into then take over Bridge's portrayal. It's a masterful performance. One where the actor's ego is completely subsumed and the character is allowed to shine in the light of the storyteller, Mattie.

Roger Deakins (No Country For Old Men) returns as cinematographer here and once again there are very few places for human beings in his spare, unwelcoming landscapes. "If the thunder don't get ya then the lightinin' will!" as the old saying goes and I constantly have that feeling while watching the characters negotiate the Texas backcountry where the film was largely shot. The folks that have made this land their home have all paid a price. The frontier that was touted to the citizenry as a promised land was in fact a wholly unforgiving place where the strong were humbled and the weak were chewed up and spit out. Every character in True Grit carries some kind of significant scar, either physical or psychological or both.

After fighting on the losing side in the Civil War LaBoeuf has a deep-seeded need to prove himself the warrior. He'll wind up carrying a saddlebag of physical scars as well from his pursuit of Chaney. Cogburn, on the other hand, having won the war but lost his family drifts through life without purpose venting his bitterness on those he's supposed to bring to justice, his one eye symbolizing his loss of perspective. Ultimately though he'll prove to be an heroic figure and then exit the stage as heroes should: on top leaving his audience (Mattie) forever wanting more. For her part Mattie is a more than competent young person who, given the right environment, would have risen to a place of prominence. The Oklahoma Territory was not the right environment and bereft of other ways to prove herself she's taken to steamrolling over those who stand in her way. She's 14 but never laughs. 14 year olds should laugh. In the end the Territory will exact its pound of flesh from her as well, literally.

As I alluded to earlier there's little of the deliberate quirkiness of the Coen's earlier efforts visible in True Grit and I for one am thankful for that. A film like "Fargo" though fascinating and brutally funny nonetheless has always felt a bit narcissistic to me. It's nothing terribly overt but I've always had the sense that part of the brother's reason for making Fargo was simply to show that they could take a half dozen or so random characters off the shelf and make a movie out of them. For that reason the film feels like a giant doodle at times to me (depending on my mood no doubt) and the results are not dissimilar, nor for that matter dissatisfying. After all, some people make really interesting doodles.

With True Grit though the Coen's have sidestepped the doodle and dove headlong into the process of narrative storytelling with all the formal conventions that come with it. And you know what? They're so good at what they do that they pretty much outstrip everybody else at this kind of film making as well, (just like they knew they would).