When I heard that the Coens were remaking TRUE GRIT, I wondered why. Not that the original is perfect, in fact, the performances have dated badly. Instead, I wondered what about this story attracted the Coens, and what they possibly thought they could do to make it interesting or relevant.
Well, I was right, they really didn't do much with it. Jeff Bridges growls his way through the film, having played a much more interesting drunk last year in CRAZY HEART, but does not instill much more character than the wooden John Wayne did. The girl fares much better, although the character is still fairly one dimensional. Matt Damon brings a little more to his character, but in the end, it's basically a remake of a not terribly interesting film in the first place.
The final scenes in particular really ruin the mood of the piece. The overall pacing seems a little odd as well; it seems to jump to a conclusion much too quickly.
The film's technical aspects are quite good, but cinematography, music and sound are not enough to make this movie memorable.
2 comments:
David, I really enjoyed TRUE GRIT, and the performance by Jeff Bridges impressed the hell out of me. I was also impressed by Hailee Steinfeld's introduction, thinking she played as talented as Judy Garland, whom I grew to appreciate even more upon that realization.
But I like Westerns, and am, in fact, writing a Western script, doing a lot of research. So, I'm particularly sensitive about capturing the sense of the time. I was amazed by the Coen's ability to do that. (Actually, I'm always interested in all things Zeitgeist.) That may be why our views may differ, and why the film is generally considered "small."
I loved how they captured the sense and rhythm of the period. The diction and speech patterns were attune with the writings I've read from people--common people--of that era.
The Coens did, to my mind, a great job of delivering the dialog, rhythm, tone, and sensibility of the period, AND then they dropped in, quite subtly by comparison, their trademark absurdity. Liberally sprinkled throughout the film, it fit in perfectly, as good a job of it as they did in "Raising Arizona."
For example, Rooster and the girl are waiting for a man on horseback to approach; when we finally see him, he looks like a bear. Rooster and the girl just keep watching him, while we are all wondering, "what the hell is THAT?" That kind of trademark Coen absurdity played very well on top of the tone of the movie.
If I ever ranked movies, I'd rank TRUE GRIT with 5 out of 5 (stars or thumbs or whatever).
I'm totally in sync with your take on this film David. I think the Coens get way too much credit on this film.
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