So, What Just Happened Here?


After watching “True Grit,� I had my standard reaction to any film by the Coen Brothers: “What just happened?�

   I am pleased to report that this is not an isolated phenomenon. Two

friends of mine have the same reaction to the output of the brothers.

Samantha is a young women of considerable sophistication and Thos., my attorney, is a mouth-breathing thug. I think this indicates the reaction

universal.

   The Brothers Coen always sneak up on me. I was too busy laughing at “Burn After Readingâ€� to fully appreciate the Strangelovian view of America’s intelligence apparatus.

   I was enjoying the period satire of “A Serious Manâ€� and didn’t realize

until afterward that I was watching the trials and tribulations of Everyman —  a nebbishy one, granted, but essentially a guy trying to play by the rules and do his best. I haven’t quite sussed out the big meaning behind “True Gritâ€� — yet. But here’s what I have so far.

   Young Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) arrives in a windblown Western

town to make arrangements for her father’s remains and to settle vengeance on his killer, a ne’er-do-well named Tom Chaney (Josh

Brolin), who has lit out for the even more lawless Indian Territory.

   Mattie learns that Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) is the most

persistent of the local bounty hunters — and the most likely to bring ’em back dead, not alive.

   She nags him into taking the job, and off they go, not without

complications such as Cogburn trying to ditch her and the presence of

a Texas Ranger, LeBoeuf (Matt Damon), who wants Chaney for killing a

Texas state senator.

   Along the way, they encounter a wide variety of miscreants and

eccentrics, and experience several near-misses until Mattie literally stumbles across Chaney. There’s a tense hostage situation and, eventually, the good guys win.

   There’s a thin veneer of civility in the Coen Brothers’ version of the

post-Civil War West, and they milk it for all it’s worth.

   The dialogue from the Coens’ screenplay provides a constant source of tension between the brutal reality of life  on the frontier, where men

get shot for no particular reason, and the curiously formal speech of

Mattie and LeBoeuf.

   Even the outlaws seem to observe some unspoken

sense of decorum.

   It’s a funny tension, too. Mattie’s high-toned badgering of the often

drunk and slovenly Cogburn is given a twist when she expertly rolls a

cigarette for him, for instance.

   And the notion of what is right and proper means that in town, Mattie has a restless time of it, sharing a bed in a rooming house with an elderly lady who snores. Out on Chaney’s trail, though, with the rough and tumble bounty hunter and Texas Ranger, Mattie sleeps like a baby.

   I was unencumbered by memories of the 1969 version starring John

Wayne, so I found myself instantly drawn into the story and remained

so for the entire 110 minutes — always a good thing for a movie.

Bridges has a good time hamming it up as the larger-than-life Cogburn.

   Damon is convincing as the upright (and uptight) legitimate lawman, and Brolin is a twitching mess as the pathetic Chaney.

   But young Hailee Steinfeld steals the show, alternately determined and then vulnerable.

   To sum it up: Terrific story with memorable characters, plenty of

action, and some of the most inept villains in recent screen history.

(Or since the last Coen Brothers flick.)

  They include a self-righteous Texas Ranger. Snaggle-toothed bad guys who despite appearances adhere to some sort of code of conduct. Lots of

higbrow-lowbrow comedy between Mattie and Cogburn. Highly amusing

sequences in which Mattie runs rings around the crusty town lawyer.

And a genuinely scary snake scene — which represents the only element that would give me pause in recommending this film for children.

   Best to stick with kids Mattie’s age (young teens and up).

And after I see it again I’ll have a better idea of the Big Picture.

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