True Grit

⭐ 9/10

When I started really watching movies, the Coens were the first filmmakers I went to. I saw Inside Llewyn Davis and thought, I should just watch every single one of their movies. My order was fairly random, but I watched most of them. A couple fell through the cracks for whatever reason, and for every single one that did I wish it hadn't. Burn After Reading is a memorable example of this, but I can't believe I let True Grit get by me. All it took was me reading the book to realize they were made to make this movie.

I loved the book too, but it is sometimes hard for me to turn written humour into actual laughs. The Coen's understand this text and its tone and it is so perfectly in line with their own humour. The accents, the faces, every detail this movie uses is perfect. The score deserves its own paragraph, constant use of "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms", subtly bringing faith into a movie that essentially never mentions it, but the book often cites Mattie's beliefs in pursuit of justice. Llewyn and Oh Brother have renowned scores that might even be considered showy, the songs are huge parts of the plot of the movies, and I love how they can so effortlessly weave in such a subtle genius score in something like this. When the vocalized version comes in over the the final frames I could feel my eyes welling, despite what I would call an unconventional and even harsh sounding voice singing the song.

I was delighted to see how many awards this movie was nominated for! Jeff Bridges is the standout for me, the perfect washed up old lawman, with that gravelly voice and worn face. But Damon's humour jumps off the screen, and Hailee Steinfeld holds her own as a child! As I mentioned in the book review, I hate precocious children, but something in her stern face and lack of humour make me care for her character.

The Coen's are so good at taking something dark and morbid and finding what's funny about it, and what's more odd than a child seeking revenge for her father's death by recruiting these weird older men. Every encounter they have is silly, until all of a sudden its serious and fingers are being chopped off, but one of the bad guys also only makes animal noises. It's this kind of contrast that is consistent throughout their work, and makes them the ideal adaptors of this book. Every time someone says "LaBeef" it's funny, and his proud Texas peacocking next to Rooster's drunken apathy is such a great pairing. The dialog could work in many of their movies, so off-beat and full of wit, and most of it is taken right from the book! They just understand the delivery and timing of it so well.

Last, I'll say this movie just looks good, Deakins so it has to be. I can't imagine it cost a lot of money, and it's also under 2 hours long. I won't say its a perfect movie, but like some of my recent reviews I can't think of anything I didn't like. So maybe it is? My main takeaway is that we need to make more movies like this. Actually, maybe the Coen's just need to reunite, since everything they make is exactly what I want in movies.