The Coen Brothers return to genre filmmaking

The Coen Brothers’ “True Grit” owes far more to the 1968 novel by Charles Portis than to the John Wayne vehicle that appeared in movie theaters one year later. It is the Coen Brothers’ first exercise in genre filmmaking since 1990’s “Miller’s Crossing,” and though it is deserving of the critical acclaim it’s garnered, it fails to live up to the promise that their earlier genre venture hinted at.

The film is brilliantly cast and overflowing with powerful performances. Jeff Bridges is magnificent as Marshal Rooster Cogburn, a ruthless and vice-burdened lawman living in squalor and infamy. One can nearly smell the stale excesses of Bridge’s portrayal, which is in stark contrast to the smooth swagger of John Wayne’s one-eyed lawman. Hailee Steinfeild also outshines her predecessor in the role of Mattie Ross, the quick-witted young girl who is every bit as ornery as Cogburn.

While much has been made of the two stars of this picture, and rightly so, the most striking impressions come from the supporting cast. Matt Damon’s take on Texas Ranger La Boeuf brings a depth to the plot that was sorely lacking in the original screenplay. The always stellar Barry Pepper and Josh Brolin shine while achieving the rare feat of portraying Old West villains who are actually frightening. Brolin’s take on the murderous Tom Chaney is one that is both shocking and full of menace. With a bare minimum of screen time, he masterfully paints a portrait of evil as something as simple and banal as it is cruel. One almost feels as sorry for the ignorant Chaney as he clearly does for himself.

The real star of the film, however, is longtime Coen Brothers collaborator Roger Deakins, the film’s director of photography. In addition to working with the Coen Brothers on the majority of their pictures, Deakins has also worked with such auteurs as Andrew Dominik and Martin Scorcese. His composition and shot selection can make a good film look great, and he has developed the habit of making the Coen Brothers’ great films look classic. “True Grit” is no different.

Deakins transforms the dusty and barren landscape of the classic western into a bold and harsh palette which suggests the brutal nature of the times. Sadly, this is a feat that Deakins has achieved once before and to even greater effect. The benchmark for photography in a modern western picture was already set too high, by Deakins himself in Andrew Dominik’s elegiac 2007 opus, “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.” No western, and in fact few motion pictures of any genre, have ever been as beautifully filmed. While “True Grit” is certainly of adequate beauty and composition, it brings us back to the one fault that may be found with a picture that is otherwise perfect.

With “True Grit,” the Coen Brothers have improved upon every aspect of the original film. They’ve restored the voice of the story to young Mattie Ross, as author Charles Portis intended. They’ve created a film that’s beautiful, exciting and outrageously funny. However, in the process of crafting this perfect motion picture they completely forgot to make it a Coen Brothers film. It’s imbued with none of their trademark black humor, nor the shocking twist of surreal mortality suddenly rearing its head and tearing the film in a different direction. “True Grit” is the Coen Brothers by the numbers, devoid of the heart and soul that audiences have come to expect. Though it is vastly more enjoyable than their previous endeavor, the farcical “A Serious Man,” aside from Deakins’ presence there is little evidence that this is a Coen Brothers film at all. Perhaps that’s what they were aiming for this time out.