True Grit

Bea Says: I am a long-time admirer of the work of the Coen Brothers, and was also raised by a baby boomer father who loves Westerns, so I was keen to see their adaptation of the classic novel and film True Grit. I think I have read the book, a long time ago, and think I have seen the old John Wayne film – again long ago – but my memory of the details of the story was hazy.

This film served to remind me of the power of a good story, with each gripping event helping the audience unpeel layers from the three central characters – fourteen year old self-possessed Mattie Ross, who becomes more child-like as the story progresses and the dangers deepen; The Rooster, a maverick bounty hunter who likes his whisky a bit too much, and who softens considerably as he and Mattie develop a father-daughter, or perhaps grandfather-granddaughter relationship in their hunt for her father’s killer; and Le Boeuf, brilliantly played by Matt Damon, as the attractive and comically earnest “ever stalwart” Texas Ranger who divides his role between falling out with the pair, but also crucially aiding them when they need it most. The spark between him and Mattie is well handled by the writing and direction.

The final scenes had me gripping my seat and nearly in tears as The Rooster tries to save Mattie’s life, and my memories of the original story came flooding back. The wrap-up, 25 years on, is beautifully crafted, thought-provoking and poignant and its final narrative evokes themes of friendship and the enduring, yet not necessarily popular or accommodating, nature of character – Mattie’s “true grit” does not lead her into any traditional construction of a happy life. And 25 years on, the wild west is reduced to being merely a travelling theme show. 25 years is indeed a long time.

I wish the Coen Brothers made more films, or that more directors would emulate them. A choice between Black Swan and this for the Oscars? Black Swan isn’t even in the running as far as I’m concerned.

****1/2

Cecil says: I haven’t seen a western for years. Maybe not since those black and white films from the 1950s which seemed to be the only thing to watch on TV on damp Saturday and Sunday afternoons. I have a vague memory of those westerns being all about good and evil, a world seen in black and white and a 1950s advert for the great American dream (or at least that’s what my film study contemporaries at uni would tell me)

If this Coen Brothers adaptation of True Grit is anything to go by, I should see more modern-day westerns. There’s more nuance to the characters; the same story can be told in a completely different way; and maybe even the ending is unlike the original (though I don’t remember for sure).

The acting and the screenplay were brilliant across the board, from the three main characters through to the small cameo roles. The detailed observations in some of the minor roles were insightful: the final speeches of the three men about to be hanged; the spooky Irish undertaker; the young lad caught up in the middle of nowhere in gang warfare he was ill suited to.

But this is the kind of film where you actually need to buy the screenplay and read it again. I’m sure in those 1950s westerns, you didn’t struggle to understand every word spoken. So have contemporary film-makers just got more real in this respect too? It was the same with Get Low a few weeks ago, and I’m guessing this must be more like real southern and western Americans speak than the sanitised speech of John Wayne or Gary Cooper.

Hey, there are so many potential Oscar winners out there this year, and a few must surely come from True Grit

****