The Coen brothers are among the most imaginative and skilled American filmmakers working, presenting us works that often polarize audiences and never fail to get noticed. "True Grit" marks a deviation from their previous work as their most realistic, least obscure story. But how good the results are is a testament that their skills go beyond the oddball and the macabre--they simply are damn fine craftsmen when paired with the right material.
Going back to previous work such as "Raising Arizona" and "No Country for Old Men", Joel and Ethan bring us back to the desert for their version of the great American western, told through the eyes of two decided city-slickers. A ruthless killer murders the father of Mattie Ross (newcomer Hailee Steinfeld) and makes off with his two California gold pieces and his gray mare. It is up to Mattie to venture from the back country to the town to settle her father's affairs, and then into Choctaw territory to find and kill the villainous Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin).
Mattie, though only 14, is plucky and whip smart, able to spin circles around those who oppose her in order to get her way. Steinfeld practically shoved her way into an Oscar slot in one particular scene early on when she steps into a horse trader's shop and robs him blind, all with his legally binding signature. Throwing about a smattering of Latin and the name of some lawyer or another in Bumblescum, Nowhere, Hailee's true grit makes her a mini force of nature.
With much persuasion she is able to hire the meanest bounty hunter in the west, a US Marshall named Rooster Cogburn, played by the more the capable Jeff Bridges. The drinking, trigger-happy, lawless law enforcer peers out of one eye and slurs a string of indiscernible words out of the side of his mouth. It doesn't seem to me that Bridges bathed for the entirety of the filming process and it wouldn't surprise me if there was real whiskey in the bottles he swigs from. No sentence he gives is a "line". It's just one of those performances where you forget the actor with nothing but Rooster left behind to watch.
The two make for unique and actually quite charming little duo. They are joined by a third, one Mr. LaBoeuf (Matt Damon), a Texas Ranger who has been after Chaney for months. Together this ragtag band of misfits traverse and fight the wilderness, the Pepper Gang, led by the nasty Lucky Ned Pepper (a fantastic Barry Pepper), and occasionally each other as they near their bounty.
I have always been a big fan of the western film and have to say there is nothing like a really good one. Honing in their more unusual point of view, the Coen bros. have constructed a beautifully shot and impeccably written piece of art that is the best of its genre since "Unforgiven". I might argue that it's even better than that. The directors have taken painstaking efforts to reconstruct a Midwest 1880s that is both meticulous and all encompassing. Sets, costumes, props, the extras used, dialects, slang--it all seems perfect to me. It is quite simply a great film.
I love the story for its natural humor and its continuous suspense. Nothing felt forced and yet I always felt as though I was in a state of insecurity. Rooster's quest for Chaney led by "a harpy in trousers and a nincompoop" is funny, exciting, fabulously acted and lovingly crafted. While watching I pitied the characters, but once it was over I admit I wished I was right there beside the trio, pistol in hand.
4/4
No comments:
Post a Comment