{"id":738,"date":"2010-12-21T18:10:38","date_gmt":"2010-12-22T01:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=738"},"modified":"2010-12-21T18:10:38","modified_gmt":"2010-12-22T01:10:38","slug":"daily-dose-review-true-grit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=738","title":{"rendered":"Daily Dose Review: TRUE GRIT"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cTrue Grit\u201d is not a Coen brothers film. Although it is written and directed by the famous filmmaking siblings who won the Oscar in 2008 by adapting Cormac McCarthy delivering one of that year\u2019s most violent and unique films. \u201cTrue Grit,\u201d by contrast, is a surprisingly traditional Western and that\u2019s because it had to be.<\/p>\n

The \u201cTrue Grit\u201d story adapted from the Charles Portis novel is well-known. A revenge tale set in the Old West in which young Mattie Ross hires the one-eyed Rooster Cogburn to hunt down and capture the man responsible for her father\u2019s murder. It is a classic tale that was classically told back in 1969 when the movie won the Oscar in 1970 for the iconic John Wayne. In the 2010 Coen brothers version the soon to be iconic and recent Oscar winner Jeff Bridges takes on the Cogburn role, donning the eye-patch and adopting a very similar ornery attitude. The one revelation in the new movie is the performance of young Hailee Steinfeld who steps into the Mattie character handled originally by Kim Darby in 1969. Matt Damon is La Boeuf here and is arguably superior to Glen Campbell. Aside from some casting choices and a unique ending sequence, the movies are very much alike. The Coens, famous for eclectic filmmaking (think \u201cFargo\u201d and others), have toned themselves down and made for all intents and purposes a reverential piece of nostalgia. And it works in almost every way.<\/p>\n

Still, I was left wanting. We do get some clever violence and good performances. But what was the point in remaking one of Hollywood\u2019s most sacred cows? Certainly money had a lot do with it, but the Coens are beyond seeking out a good paycheck (didn\u2019t they do that with \u201cThe Ladykillers\u201d and \u201cIntolerable Cruelty?\u201d). No, it is possible that they saw \u201cTrue Grit\u201d as a chance to step away from their normal way of doing things and make a straight film for a change. But that leaves their fans largely in the cold. The movie lacks the Coen touch. The narrative itself is simple and lacking a satirical angle that often marks the work of the filmmakers. This is why, no doubt, the Coens chose to stretch out the ending in an attempt to give the film more bite. And that works but only in the blandest of ways.<\/p>\n

Good news though is that the PG-13 rating and the broadly appealing storyline combined with the built-in audience familiar with the original makes \u201cTrue Grit\u201d perfect family viewing this Christmas season. I do wonder if the same crowd that demonized \u201cSecretariat\u201d will pick on \u201cTrue Grit.\u201d Either way, it is safe to say that the movie will make money, and the Coen brothers\u2019 divergence from the tweaked world-view of their films is complete. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jonathan calls the Coen version “a reverential piece of nostalgia.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=738"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":740,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738\/revisions\/740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}