True Grit

I ended up watching True Grit, the latest project by Ethan and Joel Coen simply because it was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar at the upcoming Academy Awards, since westerns are pretty much the only genre I’m not at all drawn to.  I also have to admit that, without subtitles and because of the southern accents, a large portion of the screenplay was totally lost on me.

After that preamble, the movie is certainly well made but hardly Best Picture material.  The cinematography, art direction, and costumes are excellent (and all nominated as well) but the movie as a whole, in my opinion, only benefited from the enlarged Best Picture nomination field to 10 contestants.

The plot: a way-mature teenage girl decides to hire a US Marshal to help her track down and bring to justice the man who killed her father.  They’re accompanied on and off by a Texas Ranger who’s already on the trail of said man.  Unfortunately, when they find him, he has already joined forces with a dangerous band of outlaws.

Best Supporting Actress nominee Hailee Steinfeld is quite good in her role, as is Matt Damon, but the real pillar here is Jeff Bridges, nominated for Best Actor only a year after winning that same prize for Crazy Heart.

True Grit is a well-made movie that showcases some great performances, but not being a fan of the genre, I wasn’t too impressed.

Grade: 7