True Grit review

We finally saw True Grit, though I think it really should be called No Country for Anyone but Very Intrepid Young Women.  The Coen brothers are sure some strange dudes; and this example of their art is renewed proof of that fact.

I am somewhat hampered in being very erudite and drawing elegant comparisons and whatnot, because I never saw the John Wayne True Grit.  Nor have I read the book.  However, neither of those facts is going to hold me back from a critique of the current True Grit -- a film should stand or fall on its own.

And this film definitely stands.  It contains some tour de force acting by Jeff Bridges and especially by Hailee Steinfeld, the aforementioned intrepid young woman.  She was truly amazing, more than holding her own beside Bridges and Matt Damon (who seemed either miscast or misdirected).  Josh Brolin had virtually nothing to do; it was as though the Coen brothers said to themselves, "We really like Josh Brolin so let's have him in this film; but, umm, all the real parts are already cast.  What shall we do?  Oh! Let's make him the villain, even though he will have a really small part."  So we get to see Josh Brolin pick up Hailee Steinfeld, run with her, whine at some other bad guys, get shot and fall off a cliff.  That's his entire part.  Sometimes life just isn't fair.

All the minor players -- such as the boarding house landlady, the inscrutable Indian riding through Choctaw country, the evil Ned Pepper -- gave perfect little parody performances that were really wonderful in their nudge-nudge, wink-wink stereotypicality.

The scenery is interestingly Coenish.  In some cases it is relatively realistic, as in the town and the woods; and in some cases it clearly is unrealistically minimal, as in Bridges' dash across the prairie in an effort to save Hailee from a death from snakebite and in the graveyard scene at the end.

And the music is typically Coenish.  The music played almost throughout the film -- and certainly through most of the search for Tom Chaney -- is an instrumental version of the old evangelical hymn "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms."  A particularly relevant version is sung during the credits by Iris DeMent.  Although a couple of other hymns (or near-hymns) were credited, I honestly heard nothing but the everlasting arms, over and over and over.  Surely an "Abide with Me" or "Lead Kindly Light" couldn't have come amiss!

In sum, it's not the worst Coen brothers film I've ever seen; neither is it the best.  I don't think either the film or the directors deserve an Oscar but Hailee Steinfeld seems a very strong contender.