True Grit had a disappointing evening at the Academy Awards the other night. Though it was nominated in ten categories it failed to win in any of them. It didn’t fair too well at the BAFTAs either, receiving plenty of nominations but only winning one, for cinematography. I suppose that shows the standard of films nominated this year, when such a great film like True Grit was disregarded so coldly.
I saw True Grit not too long ago and I feel that it’s another great film by the Coen brothers. Set at the end of the 19th century and with all the prejudices that go along with that era, the movie is about a young girl called Mattie whose father is killed by the criminal Tom Chaney. Chaney escapes the law’s grasp and heads into the wilderness as a fugitive, and the law isn’t too enthusiastic about going after him.
This leaves Mattie, played by awesome newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, with only one option in her fight for justice: hire a bounty hunter. She asks around the town if anyone knows a man who has ‘true grit’ and will help her catch this wanted criminal, preferably alive.
People lead her to a man called Reuben Coburn, informally known as ‘Rooster’. Yep, that’s Jeff Bridges, an actor who definitely has true grit. Mattie offers to pay him to go out and catch Chaney with her, but he turns her down telling her to go home to her mother.
A couple of spoilers will be ahead by the way; nothing more than the trailer gives away though.
After her encounter with Rooster, Mattie heads back to her boarding house for the evening and the following morning she meets a Texas Ranger called La Boeuf, played by Matt Damon, who is on the hunt for Chaney himself as he seems to have killed a senator as well the cheeky little bugger. Mattie reacts angrily as she wants Chaney to answer to his crimes against her father, not some Texan senator.
We learn fairly quickly in this film that Mattie is the strongest member of her family, we never see her mother and from what we know she’s not the smartest, and definitely isn’t capable of arranging the capture of a wanted fugitive. Mattie is obviously a strong young woman, completely out of the blue for the time in which the film’s set. She seeks out Rooster once more and demands him to take her money and catch Chaney in one of the most memorable scenes in the whole movie. Rooster just sits there, all scraggly and confused as Mattie lays into him. It’s as if Jeff Bridges himself just looks on at Hailee Steinfeld in awe at her powerful acting ability.
Of course Rooster agrees, I wouldn’t say no to that either. However he tricks her into thinking they’ll both leave in the morning, when in fact he leaves much before then, leaving a note telling her to go home. Naturally Mattie doesn’t take to kindly to this, jumping on her trusty horse Blacky and heading right on after him.
She finds Rooster eventually and he’s with Park Ranger La Boeuf on the other side of a river. Unable to cross by boat she plunges into the river with Blacky and swims across to the stunned La Boeuf and the completely unsurprised Rooster. Somehow he knew this would happen, and he quickly concedes he can’t simply tell her to go home anymore.
It turns out Rooster has enlisted the help of La Boeuf in order to track down his target, but in return Chaney will answer to his crimes in Texas. Mattie obviously isn’t cool with that and objects, saying she intends to have Rooster arrested for fraud. The three argue until ultimately the deal falls through and we’re left with two teams: Mattie and Rooster vs. La Boeuf.
During their search for Chaney the three go through many trails; saving each others lives, taking part on good old fashioned gunfights, having a drop of whiskey or two (guess who) until they reach a point where the trail goes cold. It is Rooster who throws in the towel leaving Mattie to realise she put her faith in the wrong man, and that it is actually La Beouf who has ‘true grit’. However La Beouf knows Rooster is right, the trail is cold and he departs, leaving Mattie with Rooster for the night.
Throughout the whole film Mattie searches for a man with ‘true grit’ firstly thinking Rooster was the man until realising it was really La Beouf who had it. In reality though it is her who possesses the real ‘true grit’. She was the one who had it all the long.
It really is a staggering performance by the young Hailee Steinfeld in this, her first feature length film. Whilst watching her, I think my face looked a lot like Bridges did in the aforementioned scene. A look of surprised awe. Who is this girl? Rooster was probably thinking. That’s my question too. She’s only fourteen people, and she’s just overshadowed Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon in her very first film! She’s the actress Dakota Fanning wishes she was.
True Grit is a tantalising tale that has charm, wit, and even a bit of eloquence about it. It’s a Western at heart, but it’s also got something fresh and new about it. It looks beautiful throughout the whole feature, something Westerns aren’t exactly known for. From the dusty setting of the main town to the snowy plains in the wilderness, whether the setting is day or night, the cinematography is nothing short of excellent. As for the script it has some brilliant use of language in the dialogue that I wish was still used today; it makes me want to read the book.
As for the action it’s everything you expect from a Western. The rebellious Rooster is the bad-ass of the movie, while La Beouf is the equally capable yet more mild mannered by-the-book kind o’ guy. The two are involved in plenty of action, be it rescuing Mattie from danger, or just rescuing each other. The only thing they don’t do is shoot each other. Oh, wait no, that’s there too.
Another thing you’ll notice about this movie that might surprise you: it’s genuinely funny. I’m not sure if they intended it to be so amusing but there are some moments in this movie will make you chuckle, whether it be La Beouf’s idiocy, Rooster’s dry rhetoric or just the stunned faces of anyone who talks to Mattie. The trader at the beginning is a particularly good example, trying to take advantage of a young girl and ending up caving in completely. The look on his face is priceless.
However, it’s not without its faults, but they are all minor. For example, when the trail goes cold, Mattie literally wakes up in the morning, goes to the river for some water and stumbles upon Chaney. A little coincidental don’t you think? Moments like that just felt a little like a kop out way of finding a solution, rather than finding a more logical way of continuing. Not that I can think of anything better though. Its ending could have been better too but as I said the faults in this movie are minor and are heavily outweighed by the plus points.
So did True Grit deserve more awards? Yes. It was just unfortunate that The King’s Speech was nominated alongside it. The one award it should have definitely won at the Oscars is that of Best Supporting Actress. Hailee Steinfeld is absolutely brilliant in this. She lost out to Melissa Leo from The Fighter. Bemusing isn’t it? I really thought she would win it, mainly because she’d been nominated in the wrong category. Surely she’s leading actress in this movie, there’s no way she’s supporting cast, she’s the main character! Okay, if she got nominated for Best Actress she wouldn‘t have won either, but better to lose out to the brilliant Natalie Portman than Melissa Leo. Nothing against Leo, but this girl is something else.
As for the movie, it’s brilliant and deserved every one of its nominations. If you haven’t seen it yet I would persuade you to go watch it. Even if you don’t like Westerns. It’s tough, action packed, and exciting all the while being beautiful, funny, eloquent and even a little poignant at times. Add all this to its brilliant performances by a tremendous cast and you’re left with one heck of a film.
Final Verdict: 5 Stars. If only there were an Oscar for casting…
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