Saturday 18 March 2017

Freeview film of the day : saturday 18th of March

True Grit (2010 105min.) [BBC2 10.45pm]

Remake of the John Wayne western from the Coen brothers, starring Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon. When Frank Ross is murdered by a hired hand, his teenage daughter Mattie decides to take the matter in hand and find someone with "true grit" to bring the killer to justice. Mattie's search leads her to "Rooster" Cogburn, a hard-drinking, one-eyed US marshal with a fearsome reputation.

Beautifully shot by Roger Deakins the film adds a wintry tone and atmosphere that was absent from the John Wayne original.
The reworked story and script contains moments of droll humour and there's an outstanding performance by Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross.

Wisely the Coens decided not to mess with climactic shoot-out between Cogburn and the bad guys and the overall tone is one of reverence to the original which, given the mess they made of updating The Ladykillers, is probably wise.

Neatly done with some very strong acting (especially Bridges and Steinfeld) it's certainly worth watching if if you enjoy the genre or the work of the writer/directing siblings.

No comments:

Post a Comment