True Grit (2010)

It's often the case that I get all worked up because of hype for a movie, and then have my high expectations dashed. There's a long litany of movies which were darlings for the movie awards, and then when I considered them to be merely "good" instead of "amazing", I was heart-broken. I was very much hyped up for "True Grit", but it met my expectations.

In particular, I find that modern Westerns can be broadly divided into two camps. There are the action oriented type, like "3:10 to Yuma", and there are the more artistic variety like "The Unforgiven". Not to say that there isn't artistry in "3:10 to Yuma", or action in "The Unforgiven", but it seems that the Western as a genre is, on the one hand, the progenitor of the modern action flick and also a member of the historical epic genre. So, directors, I think, often have to choose where they are aiming. "True Grit" certainly leans on the side of the artistic. One of my favorite things about it are the amazing well composed still scenes, which appear occasionally almost like paintings in their use of light and color. But, "True Grit" also doesn't take itself too seriously, and in that way it avoids some of the slowness and dryness of some of the 'artistic' type of Westerns. This is typical of the genius in a Cohen Brothers film. They're all a bit tongue-in-cheek. And the approach lends itself well to the Western genre. The young Hailee Steinfeld does an incredible job with a straight and moving dramatic performance. But, all of the other main characters--Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Josh Brolin--tow a thin line between a dramatic, historical period drama and a cartoonish, comedic mockery of a Western. This sense of comedy is, I think, what makes the movie really great.