Name of the Film: True Grit Date seen: 2nd February
Why? Some of my friends asked. Why do we need more remakes?
Well there are a couple of answers to that. Firstly it is the Coens making the film. They are truly awe inspiring at times (except maybe a couple of them, Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers I’m looking at you!) Fargo is probably my favourite film of all time. Secondly because it isn’t a proper remake. The Coens went back to the original book by Charles Portis and adapted it.
Finally from my point of view I hate John Wayne. He was a great cinema legend but he was of his time and I don’t enjoy his movies. So with all this in mind I have been eagerly awaiting the Coens take on such a famous story.
From the opening shot that so wonderfully speaks of the isolation and solitary nature of a mans fate in the old west, to its quiet but thoughtful ending this is a majestic film. Better than the John Wayne version in every way.
I think the Coens are amazing simply because of their scripts. Their characters are drawn so wonderfully well. Everyone is different with their own particular ticks and mannerisms. You can see and hear the Coens style but that doesn’t limit the diversity of the speech. And when you give a Coens script to great actors you end up with gold. In True Grit we have the craggy and miserable old grouch Rooster Cogburn played by Jeff Bridges. The dedicated if slightly incompetent LeBoeuf (who is also a bit of an arse) played by Matt Damon. The young and determined, if a little obnoxious Mattie Ross played by Hailee Steinfeld and the (largely unseen) villain of the piece Tom Chaney played by Josh Brolin.
It is the character of Tom Chaney that I think best exemplifies the amazing work the Coens have done in this film. I said he is largely unseen because he is only in the film for the last 20 minutes or so. Mattie is almost dismissive of him throughout and when we finally meet him he is just the down beat looser she has painted him as. It would be easy to make him the bland evil man stereotype. But instead we are presented with a fairly tragic figure. He has no friends, no future and no hope. The moment he is found by Rooster and Mattie the gang he is riding with abandon him to his fate. He is a vile man and not at all smart but you can see a cunning in his eyes. Josh Brolin disappears into what is basically a cameo. His voice is different, even his posture is slightly changed.
The point is that Josh Brolin and the Coen brothers do more characterisation in a few lines of dialogue than many film makers do in an entire film. Their style is not for everyone (a friend of mine describes their films as overly talky and boring!) But to me they are a shining example of intelligent film making creating worlds that I can loose myself in and characters that I want to spend time with and find out more about.
With True Grit they have made on of their best films. The ending may not be to some tastes as it is a quiet thoughtful affair with no real mega happy ending and a gun fight that last seconds and finishes with the audience being very separated from the action, instead life goes on and every choice and action has a consequence.
Did I enjoy the film? Yes.
Would I recommend it to my friends? Yes, already have.
Will I buy it on DVD/Blu Ray? As soon as it is available.
If it was a mate would I let it date my Sister? Absolutely.
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