A Reflection on True Grit: Don't Forget the Nihilism

"People do not give it credence that a fourteen-year-old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father’s blood, but it did happen. I was just fourteen years of age when a coward going by the name of Tom Chaney shot my father down and robbed him of his life and his horse and and two California gold pieces that he carried in his trouser band.

Chaney was a hired man, and Papa had taken him up to Fort Smith to help lead back a string of Mustang ponies he had just brought. In town, Chaney had fallen to drink and cards and lost all his money. He got it into his head he was being cheated, and went back to the boarding house to get his Henry rifle. When Papa tried to intervene, Chaney shot him. Chaney fled.

He could have walked his horse, for not a soul in the city could be bothered to give chase. No doubt Chaney fancied himself scot-free.

But he was wrong. You must pay for everything in this world, one way or the other. There is nothing free, except the grace of God."

Of the 110 minutes of True Grit, the ones I love best are the opening and ending sequence. Everything in between is kind of well, mediocre - there's the typical Coen characters and Coen morbid eccentric humor - there's Roger Deakins' lovely but often fleeting cinematography, but I think all of these kind of pale in comparison to the two elegiac, kind of haunting sequences that begin and end the movie.

But this is less of a review than a spirited defense of the movie, from those who called the ending cold and empty and the characters devoid of emotional depth or warmth.

Why does True Grit need "warmth" to qualify as great? Because it has comedic moments and a sassy young girl character? I kind of like to think of True Grit as a companion piece to No Country For Old Men. They're both modern spins on the Western and both have a good dose of nihilism and murky morality, even if True Grit is being touted as a more family-friendly genre picture. But I don't think the Coen Bros. ever intended to make a fuzzy, warm, feel-good movie.

The epilogue is kind of hilarious in the way that *SPOILERS* you have what appears to be a sweetly satisfactory conclusion pan out to something that leaves the cheering audience cold and uncertain in their seats. But then again, this is a Coen Brothers movie. The hipster sarcasm that makes them so popular with teenage boys aside, they've never phoned in for simplistic conclusions.

Sure, the movie concerns themes like revenge, but it's mostly a character study of an identity, a tough breed of people who possess the titular "true grit, like Mattie and Rooster. They're decent and morally upright people, not without kindness, but they are not tender or or even preternaturally warm. As much as I like Hailee Steinfeld's performance, she almost makes Mattie too likeable, because at heart, she and Rooster are the same - stoic, inexorable, and self-assured loners. The "true grit" is the cause of their isolation from other people, but it's unfair to assume that Mattie and Rooster lack emotional depth anymore than say, Mark Zuckerberg does in The Social Network, who shares a similar hardwiring with Mattie and Rooster. The only difference is TSN's sadsack ending, which I thought was kind of a Hollywood cop-out and betrayed the Zuckerberg character they'd been beautifully building up to that point. Unlike Zuckerberg, Older Mattie has absolutely no regrets despite a similar emotional isolation, but because of that, she's "empty"?

Listen, in the 21st century where the need to simply be alone is increasingly seen as a cause for concern, there still exists some people who - well, are natural loners, period. They can enjoy human company but enjoy the comfort of solitude more. And they are not lonely. And it is not weird, or soulless, or that they do not find their friendlessness empty or lonely. In the Old West, it is a common personality, but in 2010, it's Asperger's?

Tangent alert. Anyways, in retrospect, it would have been odd for the Coen Bros to let a movie where people shot in cold blood end all happy-go-lucky. They tell good stories, but their stories have always come with some sort of moral or spiritual implication. I disagree with others who found this movie off the mark. In a way True Grit's ending is more emotionally genuine than The Social Network's, since it actually makes the audience feel the hard emptiness of Mattie's choices instead of enforcing the false sentimentality of Zuckerberg's. Both movies end up having odd reversals of tone.

The Last Breath Before the Festivities Come

Bye-bye, September. Goodbye, last month of bipolar weather (tornados, heat waves, sudden drops and spikes, assholery weather in general), and looking forward to the cooling breath of October. It's raining ferociously today and I'm LOVING it.

Best of all, the fall season means that it's officially time to start speculating Oscar. Of course, it's an yearly ongoing discourse. Bloggers and movie fans briefly sojourn in a state of sickened exhaustion after the Oscars take place, barely taking time to return to a state of normalcy before Sundance comes along and revs them back up. But most early speculation consist of potshots. I came across an Oscar prediction article in April (for God's sake) that predicted The American to win Best Picture for 2011. (Er, just to put it out now and forever, any movie that has the competent but uninteresting Mr. Clooney as its leading man will never win Best Picture. He's charismatic but also an emotional vacuum, and there's always an overly-complacent vagueness to his charm that counteracts any force of conflict of depth. Hence, it's difficult to be invested in him. We like 'em outlandish)

*Dammit! I really did lose half this blog entry. Quick re-write:

September deaths: RIP Sally Menke, editor and MVP to Quentin Tarantino. She was a hero of mine, especially during a short period briefly back when I wanted to become a film editor. Her untimely and tragic death already sparked whispers about whether Tarantino can retain the same level of quality without her. I think he can, but all the same, it's surely a creative and personal blow for him. Menke left big shoes to fill.

Wonderfully funny and (now sad) tradition QT did for Sally Menke:

RIP to Tony Curtis and Gloria Stuart as well.

"The Social Network" marks the beginning of real-time Oscar season, especially with the reviews nearing a hysterical peak. It only makes me more anxious for this to be a Great Movie. Please let it reinvigorate the movie industry into writing great dialogue again, and please let it mark the auspicious beginnings of a better movie decade than the last.

September trailers amp up the growing Oscar excitement: The King's Speech, and True Grit.

Love the song. Love the unknown girl they picked, especially her deliberate line delivery. Cinematographer Roger Deakins is so finally winning his due with this.

Audience members who have already seen it at Toronto are falling over themselves left and right to assure people that it's much better than its pandering trailer. Will rightfully cement Colin Firth's status as one of the best actors of his generation, and perhaps begin a career revival for the unfailingly great Helena Bonham-Carter (no, Harry Potter and her husband's bad movies don't really count, though she was awesome in them).