#2 - True Grit (2010)

This "getting people to watch movies with me" is so easy! All I have to do is start lesson planning for my return to work tomorrow after the break, and my mom will come ask me, "Hey, do you want to go see True Grit?" Hell yes, I do.  Of course, there remains now a minimum of four days of lesson planning ahead of me, but whatever.

It should be noted that for the next 50 days or so, there will be several more 2010 entries, as awards season is in full swing, culminating with the February 27th broadcast of the Oscars.  An Oscar party will happen this year, and we may already have a venue.  One of the fun things about Oscar parties are the themed dishes based either literally or more tangentially on the Best Picture nominees, and with 10 again this year, there's going to be a lot of planning involved.  True Grit (a likely contender, at least for a nomination) is easy: lots and lots of whiskey.  Okay, maybe some bean dish or mulligan stew or other Western-themed dish may actually come into play, but the booze is near-ubiquitous as we follow Jeff Bridges's Rooster Cogburn on his (or should we say... Mattie's?) manhunt.

Those who have seen the original 1969 version with John Wayne are more familiar with the premise of the film (which is really quite simple) than I was going into it, but I have read that there is a bit of a distinction between the two films: the former version focuses more on Wayne's Cogburn, whereas the latter recognizes that the story is Mattie's.  She's the one who wants vengeance on Tom Cawley for the murder of her father, and it's she who "retains" Cogburn to track him (herself firmly in tow, as much to protect her investment as anything else).

It's been said in numerous other publications, but 14-year-old Hailee Steinfeld (not Seinfeld) is terrific.  She establishes her presence in every scene, delivers witty rejoinders with an ease I wish I would more often have, and more than holds her own alongside Bridges, Damon, and Brolin.  We care (or at least, we should care) as much about her as we do Rooster, and it's my opinion that the duality is intentional.  They are both the lead actors of the film-- which can be construed, without too much distorting-- as another in the "Buddy Journey" subgenre.

One final note on the film itself: it is funny.  There were many times when we were laughing out loud, or just smiling at the situation of the moment.  Bridges, especially, delivers his lines drolly, doubtlessly as they were intended in the Coens' script.  He's not the only one, however.  Pay close attention to and enjoy the exchanges between Mattie and the trader in town.  Pure delight.

Score: 8.5/10

Would-be Deserved Oscar Nominations:

Best Picture, Best Director (Joel & Ethan Coen), Best Actor (Bridges), Best Actress-- though this is likelier to be "Supporting" (Steinfeld), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography