True Grit

Whenever the Coen brothers bring out a new film, expectations tend to be high and with a critically acclaimed back catalogue it's easy to see why. People tend to bow down to the Coens and praise emphatically everything that they do as if they are film deities. However as much as I want to be part of this religion, more often than not I find myself just liking what they produce in a 'meh' sort of way. 'True Grit' is no exception.


The film follows the journey of 14 year old Mattie Ross, played by the 13 year old Hailee Steinfeld, as she seeks vengeance for the murder of her father. She searches for someone with 'true grit' in order to help her on her mission and hires US Marshall, Rooster Cogburn played by Jeff Bridges. And Mr. LeBeouf (Matt Damon) comes along too.


'True Grit' is an old American expression and having 'true grit' by modern standards is synonymous to having 'balls.' At first Mattie thinks Jeff bridges has 'balls' but then she thinks Matt Damon has 'balls'. She then realises she has had 'balls' all along and in the end as an audience member we see that they all have 'balls'. And that is the plot.


To be fair, the Coen brother's films generally don't focus on plot as much as they focus on character or on themes. A few lengthy scenes of dialogue add depth and flesh out characters quite early on in the film, but i find this fairly tedious and i want these scenes to wrap up quickly. After this character set up the characters proceed to stay the same throughout the film, their is no existence of character arcs anywhere. The acting however is great. I can't fault it. Steinfeld is brilliant, Bridges is fantastic and Damon is amazing. The acting for me is not the problem.


There were certain moments when people laughed. For example, when a plan didn't work and Bridges says 'well that didn't go to plan,' and then when they wait for Mr. LeBoeuf for ages and a different guy turns up and Bridges says 'Well that's not LeBoeuf .' The audience loved it! But why? I get it but its not hilarious. At one point Bridges says the word 'Nincompoop' which had the crowd rolling in the aisles. As far as i'm concerned that's just a silly word and i get the feeling that if these 'jokes' had popped up in a different film with a different director they'd be classed as broad demographic gags. I think this point about the humour is a bit of an insight into the type of people who enjoy Coen brother films a lot.


I did enjoy this film, it looked great and the acting was superb. I just didn't enjoy it as much as I think I'm supposed to enjoy it. Perhaps I just don't have the facilities to appreciate the Coen brothers and that I'm not fully aware of the subtleties contained in their films. I also think their is a measure of charlatanry amongst people who say their favourite films are Coen brother films as it's an easy way of getting cultural status and kudos from a group. Or maybe I'm just an idiot.