All Country for Young Woman

True Grit

*** out of ****

Directed by: Joel and Ethan Coen

Starring: Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld, Matt Damon, Barry Pepper and Josh Brolin

Running time: 112 minutes

Few directors are as fascinating to watch as brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. The Oscar-winning duo usually pack their films with banter as loopy as it is sour, and the careful attention to detail (symbols, colours, set decoration) that gives introspective viewers joy in revisiting their films.

While True Grit is not a misfire in any means for the Coens, given the creative tendencies behind their previous pictures, it feels more like a solid genre picture than one pursued from their own artistic impulses.

Still, few writer/directors could have done such a fine job with a remake, especially one with the legacy of John Wayne’s iconic, award-winning turn as Reuben “Rooster” Cogburn. In the original, it was John Cogburn who had the “true grit” the title alluded to. In 2010, that belongs to Hailee Steinfeld’s sharp-witted, determined portrayal of the precocious Mattie Ross.

Mattie is seeking revenge on Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), an outlaw who killed her father and made off with his horses and gold. She hires the hard-tooting, whiskey-ridden gunslinger Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to capture Chaney and ensure he returns to town to be hanged in front of the locals. Texas Ranger La Bouef (Matt Damon) rides along, out to settle a score with Chaney regarding a crime committed in his home state.

It wouldn’t be a Coen adventure if it weren’t accompanied by crisp, gorgeous photography from Roger Deakins or frank, folk-variety melodies from composer Carter Burwell.

Deakins, a fan of saturated colouring, slowly pans the camera to settle in on the authentic setting, whether in a crowded courtroom or the bare New Mexico wilderness. Few Hollywood craftsmen deserve an Oscar on their mantle as badly as Deakins, who is empty-handed after eight nominations. This award season, there’s hope.

That drought will likely not sustain for a young actress like Hailee Steinfeld, who delivers one of the finest screen debuts you’re likely to ever see from a young actress. Just 14, Steinfeld has to match Bridges’ hefty persona while mastering Portis’s thick diction, and she brilliantly holds her own at both. She has a bright and prosperous career ahead of her.

Speaking of Portis, the Coens borrow a great deal from his original novel, with his sharp, brazenly colourful dialogue handled just as faithfully as the Coens were to Cormac McCarthy’s somber themes in No Country for Old Men.

Bridges fills Wayne’s boots easily, offering the same surly, cocksure manner and foolish grin that he has encompassed since the Coens catapulted him to cult-like status as “The Dude.” Unfortunately, the film's one-note characters ensure that the slew of excellent performances here add up to less than the fine work given. Mattie and Rooster feel restricted in emotion for much of the duration until finally giving off a few shades of colour in the final reel.

So while the Coens remain true – perhaps this time around, even truer – to Portis’s 1968 novel, and saddle up the western with an impressive cast and a fantastic visual schematic, it lacks, well, grit in its directorial vision and ability to develop character.