Saturday, January 29, 2011

True Grit (2010)


A tough U.S. Marshal helps a stubborn young woman track down her father's murderer. [imdb]

Nominated for 10 Oscars:

Best Picture
Best Director: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges
Best Supporting Actress: Hailee Steinfeld
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction
Best Costume Design
Best Sound Mixing
Best Sound Editing

I have just seen it, so I'm still in the first impressions phase and have it fresh in my mind. It was a good film, it was an ok film. I've enjoyed it, but I still think it could've been better. By the end of the film, I felt a bit disappointed, maybe the story wasn't challenging enough or maybe the ending required more emotion, more passion.
The beginning is the best part and it's captivating storytelling. Jeff Bridges gives a good performance, but far from his best. Hailee is ok, but maybe a bit overrated; of course, her placing in Supporting is a category fraud, but I've seen much worse cases (Casey in The Assassination of Jesse James, for example). I was so captivated by the male characters in the second part, that I found her presence less oustanding than in the first half. I don't see what the big buzz surrounding her is all about, and in a race between her and Melissa Leo for the win, to me it should be a no-brainer victory for Leo!
Matt Damon delivers his regular ok, but I was very captivated by Barry Pepper's very short but terrific performance. He has come a long way since Battlefield Earth. :) The technical recognitions seem fair enough, but the Coens getting the nomination and not Christopher Nolan is kind of upsetting to me. True Grit is a film I like, it has its good moments, but to me it won't be one of the year's favorites.
My rating for the film: 8/10. I would've given it maybe a bit less, but it was pleasant to see.

2 comments:

  1. The reason I think that Steinfeld's fraud is worse than someone like Affleck is because his film has more than one leading actor, and one gets demoted. There is no female (lead) in TRUE GRIT, so it's ridiculous to call her supporting.

    I'm not a big fan of this, nice, vaguely entertaining but not especially profound.

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  2. well, truth is there was nothing I disliked about it, nothing to really bother me.

    and I've enjoyed the beginning, it showed that the Coens can be great storytellers.

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