An attribute that I always admire in movies is the ability to defy the expected. It is this characteristic that progression in filmmaking relies solely upon and it is filmmakers who are not afraid to challenge the status quo that will leave their footprint on the history of cinema.
The Cohen Brothers have a reputation as being “mainstream” directors who go against the grain with outrageous plots inundated in intelligent dialogue and allegory for those with a sharp enough eye to catch it. They transform Hollywood actors into legendary characters and never let themselves be restricted by things such as genre. Their unpredictability is not shock-driven, but is rather a byproduct of that rare desire to make a movie without caring what the general public will think of it. This quirkiness goes hand in hand with the Cohen Brothers name. It has come to be expected.
I was as shocked as the next person to hear that the genre-busting brothers were to remake the John Wayne classic, “True Grit”- perhaps the most garishly Western movie ever to come galloping out of the sunset. Now, let’s face it. Westerns aren’t what they used to be. Desert showdowns and 20-gallon hats have been done until they were more tired and dry than a Texas tumbleweed. They were episodes of cheap gallantry at worst and rough-and-tumble humanism at best.
John Wayne’s Rooster Cogburn, I would argue, fell somewhere toward the former end of this spectrum. Jeff Bridges does not seek to mimic him but instead creates a Rooster out of the “real west”. He is probably smelly, not pleasant to travel with, and isn’t quite the gun-slinging spring-chicken he presumably once was. His ally is the plucky fourteen year old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) who is on a quest to avenge her murdered father. As far as grit goes, the duo certainly isn’t going to run dry any time soon.
The Cohen Brothers put into play some of the elements that made the classic Westerns great- spellbinding landscapes, moments of tense isolation broken by the thunder of gunfire, and larger-than-life characters who gradually become more and more human.
When we are introduced to Mattie and Rooster, it is evident that these are two characters that have experienced the wildest of the Wild West and are right capable of taking care of themselves. But Mattie is growing up and Rooster is growing old and even the grittiest of the gritty needs a healthy dose of friendship to help them along the lonesome trail of life. You can’t fend for yourself until you can fend for others.
I never expected the Western to make a comeback with modern audiences. I don’t expect that it will. But it is in giving new life to one of the most formulated genres around that two filmmakers pushed the boundaries of their own ability as well as the ability of today’s moviegoers to appreciate a piece of good, old-fashioned filmmaking.
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