True Grit

By Will Tooke

Remakes are a tricky business.  Here in the glamorous, Soho based Film Don Inc. offices, we still argue about the relative merits of Let Me In, the American remake of the far superior Swedish Let The Right One In, that seemed to me at least to cater solely for American teenagers too lazy to read subtitles for two hours. Equally re-boots such as ‘Karate Kid’ and ‘The A-Team’ can cause a lot of heavy debate as to whether they ruined or improved the franchise.

Which brings us to the Coen Brother’s True Grit. Whilst not a remake of a foreign movie or a reboot of an 80’s classic, the comparison holds in that it is a remake of a much loved original, that garnered widespread critical acclaim upon its release in 1969, and finally won Marion Morrison (or John Wayne to you and me) a Best Actor Oscar for his swan song performance as Rooster Cogburn, the gruff, no nonsense US Marshal. The Coen’s have more than proved themselves when it comes to Westerns, having adapted and directed 2007s No Country For Old Men, but they also proved themselves to be wildly inconsistent filmmakers by following up No Country with Burn After Reading, a weird, unpleasant comedy that raises a few laughs (George Clooney’s dildo machine*, anyone?) but has dark streaks so broad that as a whole the film is uncomfortably discordant. So purists of the Western genre perhaps have a lot to be worried about. Especially since the last Coen remake was 2002’s The Ladykillers, starring Tom Hanks. There’s a reason why you probably haven’t heard of it.

Then again, the original True Grit has a lot wrong with it – and however sacrilegious this may sound; don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. The 1969 Henry Hathaway directed version screamed sixties Hollywood – if you can look past the poor quality special effects (shots of people falling off horses were sped up, a safer way for stuntmen to earn their living, but it has more than a little of the Benny Hill chase sequence about it), then its hard to look past how anaesthetised the Wild West looks. Clothes are new and clean, and saddles shine with the over care of a zealous props department. With modern additions to the genre like the much underrated, Kevin Costner directed Open Range, the TV show Deadwood, or even the sprawling epic videogame Red Dead Redemption audiences are used to seeing the Old West like it was. Violent, dark and dirty.  Pleasingly this is how the Coens have realized their version of the film. Which isn’t to say it doesn’t look beautiful, the grimy grey-brown palette periodically broken up by skylines stretching blue across the Midwestern horizons, or the spurting crimson of a fatal gunshot.

Another fault with the original was the casting. Surly Texas Ranger Labouef was played by country singer Glenn Campbell, who couldn’t act as well as he could sing, a piece of stunt casting thankfully not emulated by the Coen brothers- presumably 50 Cent was upset not to be asked to a reading, Matt Damon being a perfect fit for the role, much to Fiddy’s chagrin.  Jeff Bridges brings a gruff, whiskery authority to the one eyed Cogburn. Unlike Wayne’s incarnation, it’s easy to forget that you’re watching an actor and not a real cowboy. It’s unkind, but in truth Wayne played a gunslinger at the end of his career at the end of his career, whereas Bridges continues to go from strength to strength. He has made the role his own. John who? Wisely, Bridges channels hardly any of Wayne’s original performance, although it’s great to see the inclusion of the original’s most iconic scene – Cogburn galloping toward a posse of badguys, reins in his teeth, a six shooter in each hand, kill or be killed.

Despite Bridge’s stellar performance, the real tip of the ten gallon hat has to go to newcomer and spell check molester Hailee Steinfeld who is nothing short of astonishing in the roll of the young Maddie Ross, who hires Cogburn to track down her father’s murderer. Here – and in the original book – Maddie is only fourteen, whereas in 1969 she was played by Kim Darby, then in her early twenties, the character having been made sufficiently old enough to hint at a love interest with Cogburn, another bum note in the original. Steinfeld manages to bring the outwardly gutsy, bluntness of the character to the screen in tandem with her naivety and concealed sensitivity, a performance made all the more impressive considering she is acting alongside the likes of Damon and Bridges. That Best Supporting Actress Oscar nod is so well deserved, albeit a nomination that rather understates her role in True Grit, as she is arguably the central character – reflected in her BAFTA nomination for Best Actress. It is as much her film as it is Bridges’.

Aside from the top notch cast – bolstered by a subtle turn by Josh Brolin as the bad guy – the reason why the film really works is weirdly because it is one of the least Coen-y Coen Brother’s film. It has less of the cooky twists that seem to delight and irritate in equal measure, and is much less violent than a lot of their previous work (thus making it still pretty violent).  All in all it’s a carefully, understated film that is made all the stronger by its simple plot, letting strong character performances carry the compelling tale of revenge and justice.

*Coincidentally, a rather good name for a band.

Degree- First.

The best Western movie in years, and even ifgunslingers and horse

chases aren’t your thing– the strong performances are worth the price of admission alone.

The film to give The King’s Speech a run for its money when the

Oscars come round at the end of the month.

(If you are confused about the rating system please click on the ‘About This Blog Page’ which will explain it all)

True Grit

This film is getting a lot of Oscar and reward buzz, and for good reason. Not only does the film combine the huge talents of the Cohen brothers, Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon, but it also introduces us to Hailee Steinfeld who has got an Oscar best supporting actress nomination for her first ever acting role; that is no mean feat. Add to that the fact it is a film about redemption, battling the odds and also a re-make of the 1969 film that John Wayne his only Academy Award and this is certainly a film that people should be excited to see.

Hereafter

By guest writer Will Tooke

Imagine yourself a film investor and one day, you are brought a new project, a script called ‘Hereafter’. It’s written by Peter Morgan, who wrote The Queen, Frost / Nixon and The Damned United, all of which are great films. Clint Eastwood is slated to direct, Matt Damon will star, and Steven Spielberg will produce. It’s a no brainer, right? It ticks every box. Sounds like a sure fire contender come awards season, right? You’d be stupid not to part with money to get this baby off the ground. So you sign the cheque on the dotted line, and contribute to the $50 million dollar budget.

Fast forward a year or so. You see the final cut of the film, and realise you’ve just made a massive mistake. It’s one of those films where you’re sat waiting for it to get good – but it just never does. If anything it gets worse. A lot worse.

Matt Damon plays George. In a particularly limp bit of exposition, we learn that an operation on his brainbox when he was a kiddywink left him psychic. So now whenever he touches people, he gets flashes of their dead loved ones, and can talk with them for a bit, before they bugger off into the mysterious ‘hereafter’.  Problem is, it means that he can’t ever get close to women, because inevitably that involves touching people. From this, I deduce that George is probably a virgin, because sex involves, you know, touching people. I mean imagine having to have a conversation with someone’s dead nan just as you’re getting it on with them. Nightmare. Of course, we feel sorry for George. He’s a nice guy. Whereas other mediums and psychics are charlatan snake oil merchants, George is the real deal. He doesn’t do it for the money. In fact, he doesn’t do it at all because as he will tell us at least twice in the script IT’S NOT A GIFT, IT’S A CURSE! In the meantime, his insensitive brother tries to persuade him to get rich using his talents. Poor bloke. Basically, George is an alright guy, but he’s really, really boring.  Will he be able to come to terms with his ability (did I mention that IT’S NOT A GIFT, IT’S A CURSE!?), and will he find love? Spoiler Alert: Yes, yes he will.

Meanwhile, half a world away in Paris, a generically plucky female journalist, Marie Lelay (Cécile De France) is investigating ‘the other side’. She does this because during the 2004 tsunami, she had a near death experience, glimpsing the great hereafter. Which looks shadowy and blurry and a bit crap, mainly because Eastwood splurged away most of the special effects budget recreating a Thai market getting swept away in a swirling torrent of bamboo and bodies. It’s the only bit of the film that made me sit up, and it was over in the first ten minutes. And even then, the CGI wasn’t all that great.

The third strand brings Marcus(played by twin brothers Frankie and George McLaren) a troubled cockerrnee waif of a lad whose twin brother Jason gets splatted by a white van man whilst running away from some hoodied youths. He later gets placed into care as his single mum is on heroin. Because this kid is basically the poster boy for Broken Britain, I was kind of surprised some knife crime wasn’t casually thrown into his story for good measure. In for a penny, in for a pound. Marcus misses his brother, and longs for a way to contact him. He tries psychics, but they are the bad kind of psychics who aren’t real psychics at all. Why, if only he could find a real psychic. Can you see what’s coming? Of course you bloody can, because the storyline has no subtlety whatsoever. It doesn’t so much signpost what’s to follow, as it does rip the signpost out of the narrative roadside and smack you round the head with it.

After Jason’s ghost saves his twin from the 7/7 tube bombings (no, really), the various plot strands sluggishly converge at a London book fair (no, really) where Lelay is promoting her new book about the other side, where George is attending a reading of his favourite author – Charles Dickens – and where Marcus’s well-meaning foster parents bring him for a reason that’s too earth shatteringly hackneyed to mention here. Come the end, you just won’t care anymore.

Damon manages to soldier on throughout, giving a solid performance as George – against the odds, given the script – but even if you’re a diehard fan of his, you might as well save some money and wait a few weeks to see him in True Grit, which is an exponentially better film. Eastwood, who has done great things as a director – particularly with Flags of our Fathers and Invictus, really drops the ball with Hereafter. We can only hope he gets it back together for next year’s promising sounding Dustin Lance Black penned J.Edgar Hoover biopic, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Black, like Morgan, is historically a great screenwriter, but if anything is to be learnt from Hereafter, it’s that films are won and lost largely on how good or bad the script is.  In the case of Hereafter, it never rises above being stunningly bad. The fleeting mention of a religious conspiracy somehow quashing scientific research into the hereafter is at least an interesting idea, but it never gets developed. But then that’s hardly a surprise seeing how the film never offers anything approaching answers to any of the questions it sets up. Where exactly are the people that George glimpses in the hereafter? Is it heaven? Is there a heaven? No answers are forthcoming, because all that’s like, well mysterious and stuff, yeah? The ‘mystery’ allows Peter Morgan to lazily scramble out the corner he wrote himself into. Perhaps the film makers kidded themselves into believing they are prompting the audience to think about the profound questions of death and the afterlife, but the only real question this film begs is how the hell did it get made in the first place?

 

I don’t think we’ll ever know.

Degree-Fail.

The first truly bad film of 2011, all the more inexcusable given the talent behind it.

With tedious dialogue and a poor storyline, this will surely be remembered as an embarrassing

career blip for all involved. Melodrama of the worst order.

You have been warned.

(If you are confused about the rating system please click on the ‘About This Blog Page’ which will explain it all)

Hereafter

At the end of January (28th january) legendary actro/director Clint Eastwood will release a movie that battles with death, the afterlife and the supernatural. This is certainly a new direction for Eastwood, but he has recruited favourite Matt Damon (who he worked on Invicitus with) to help him through the transition. LWith a screen play by the writer of ‘The Queen’ and ‘Frost/Nixon’ this has the potential to be an insightful and moving film.

Faces to watch out for in 2011

Here are a few of the names you should look for on movie posters in 2011. None of them are unknowns, but all have a good line up of films planned for 2011 that shows why they are big Hollywood stars.

Natalie Portman

Natalie Portman is certainly being adaptive this year. At the start she will play a ballerina on the edge  in the Oscar worthy and critically acclaimed ‘Black Swan’ and then she will delve into different roles for different audiences. She becomes Ashton Kutcher’s love interest  in chick-flick ‘No Strings Attached’, an astrophysicist in Marvel’s comic film ‘Thor’ and finally the warrior princess in male directed fantasy comedy ‘Your Highness’. None of these roles seem to be similar, so Portman will finally be showing her acting diversity and hopefully proving to Hollywood that she can be box office gold.

 

Steven Speilberg

When Steven Spielberg releases two films in a year you can guarantee a few things: there will be a happy ending; one film will be heavy while the other is light; and he will push the boundaries of filmmaking.

In 2011 Spielberg will release ‘War Horse’, a film adaptation of the emotional child’s story of a horse in World War 1, and ‘The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn’ in which he will create an entire 3D film using Avatar motion-capture technology. Both films will have an impact this year.

 

Matt Damon

One male actor to look out for this year is Matt Damon who is hitting 2011 with no less than five film releases.  Damon is known for being picky with roles but to his credit as he often chooses meaty, interesting ones. He will narrate a documentary ‘Inside Man’, which is about the financial crisis, play a reluctant psychic in the new Eastwood film ‘Hereafter’, a cowboy with a lisp in the Cohen brother’s ‘True Grit’, a politician in thriller ‘The Adjustment Bureau’ and then to round it all off a scientist in star studded ‘Contagion’. Now that’s a workload to rival Oxford!