True Grit (2010) dir. Ethan & Joel Coen

True Grit is a classic tale of frontier justice. It follows the story of 14-year-old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld), as she searches for revenge against the man that murdered her father. Mattie embarks on her journey across the Arkansas landscape with US Marshall Reuben ‘Rooster’ Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) and Texas Ranger La Boeuf (Matt Damon).

Steinfeld’s performance as the hard-headed and wise beyond her years Mattie is complemented perfectly by Bridges’ ageing US Marshall that genuinely has seen it all and delivers his dialogue with an honest precision and unfaltering lack of care towards the opinion of others. Damon comes up slightly short when paired with these performances but his character facilitates Bridges’ and Steinfeld’s relationship and their character development (whilst also providing a bit of comic relief).

This film is another masterclass of Coen dialogue. True Grit perfectly portrays the different moral code present in the frontier environment through its characters. A short cameo from the bandit Ned Pepper (Barry Pepper) perfectly emphasises this. Pepper is unphased when learning of the death of his fellow gang members and holds no grudges even upon his death at the hands of the US Marshall. Despite being 'enemies', their interactions highlight an acceptance and positive relationship with their own mortality. The characters all seem to accept that this is a ‘kill or be killed’ world and the film does well in demonstrating that these acts do not seem to be tied too heavily to the characters’ moral standing.

I really enjoyed watching this, it was a very tight plot coming in with a runtime of just under two hours. It had the same dark humour present in many Coen brother films - with a special shoutout going to the undertaker at the start of the film. The sprawling, dry Arkansas landscape accompanied by beautiful mountain range backdrops was very well shot. The character dialogue and acting were engaging enough that I would have happily watched the interactions between the main three characters for the whole film. However, when finally reaching their target, Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), I was not disappointed - with Steinfeld in particular, continuing to shine in her interactions with Brolin and Pepper. Overall, this was a fun journey that I would highly recommend to anyone!

Streaming now on UK Netflix