True Grit

Director(s): Joel & Ethan Coen
Writer(s): Joel & Ethan Coen
Production Co.: Paramount Pictures/Skydance Productions
Year of Release: 2010
RECOMMENDED


Okay so I've seen this twice now, I should probably review it. I'm going to act like you know who the Coen brothers are, and if you don't a friendly IMDb page could sort you out. So, after their modern-western stint with No Country for Old Men (one of my personal favorite flicks), the Coens have decided to take on a real, rough and ready American western. How does the film compare to NCFOM? Poorly. But truthfully, it's apples and oranges. Don't be expecting a slow paced philosophical thriller, but rather a true adventure in every sense of the word. The world of the Coens is very much here however, this isn't a very big stylistic change, as everything within the film lives and breathes through witty dialogue and acutely drawn characters, just as it does throughout every Coen film. It is shot gracefully as ever by the king of cinematography, Roger Deakins. Every shot is carefully hand picked and fine tuned to create the maximum amount of beauty. With American landscapes paying tribute to the likes of Sergeo Leone and John Ford, with a subtle surrealism that neither captured (Although Leone did in fact capture surrealist images in his films, they were of a much different nature). Deakins does the American west a great service. In truth though, most of all it is with simple storytelling that this film shines most, (although being either a re-adaptation of Charles Portis' novel or a re-make of the original John Wayne film) the Coens did the great source material a justice by it's rather consistent pacing. True Grit never meanders or looses itself in it's themes, it is confident and takes you places you haven't been in a very long time with a hand on your shoulder, comforting you into the realization that cinema is facing a long-overdue return of the Western. With another Cormac McCarthy adaptation already in the works, and the strong box office results that True Grit has been seeing, I think we'll be seeing more adventures akin to True Grit in the future. All in all, this is a solid film that continues the Coens film making streak of the last four years, and further cements them as a cornerstone in cinema and auteurs in their own right.

Overall rating: 8.6
Status: AWESUM