True Grit’: Not the usual Coen standard

I’ve been watching Coen brothers films since 1984 when “Blood Simple” played first played on a Spokane movie screen — probably the Magic Lantern’s.

I’ve loved several of their films, appreciated most of them and felt indifferent only to a few. Among those I’ve loved: “Fargo,” “Raising Arizona,” “Miller’s Crossing,” “Blood Simple,” “The Big Lebowski” (on a second viewing, years after its 1998 premiere) and “No Country for Old Men.” Among those I’ve been indifferent to: “Barton Fink,” “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” “The Ladykillers,” “Burn After Reading,” “A Serious Man.”

Now we have the brothers’ adaptation of Charles Portis’ Western novel “True Grit.” I describe it as an adaptation of the novel to emphasize what it is not: a remake of Henry Hathaway ‘s 1969 film, which stars John Wayne, Kim Darby, Glen Campbell and Robert Duvall.

And my reaction: Well, I can’t say that I’m indifferent to it. But I don’t love it either.

What I love specifically about the Coens is that they’ve created their own language of film. The rhythms, of speech, pacing and thee, are unmistakable. Each of the films I list above, the ones I claim to love, are as recognizably Coen as any individual film can be tied to those who made it.

Another Coen trademark: Directing films that are as much film studies as they are visual stories. Most are a play on genres: mystery (“Blood Simple,” “Fargo”), western (“True Grit”), farce (“Raising Arizona”), period comedy (“O Brother, Whare Art Thou?”), gangster film (“Miller’s Crossing”) … and so on.

“True Grit” is clearly a western. But as an adaptation of Portis’s novel, a work dating from 1968 that the Coens have said they admire, it is clearly a respectful treatment. Perhaps too respectful. Because even given the various Coenisms — the man dressed in the grizzly-bear suit, the stilted speech of various characters, the sudden violence … Jeff Bridges — the film feels less Coen than merely ordinary.

Part of the problem? The plot just doesn’t feel tight. It’s almost as if the Coens were doing their best to follow Portis’ story, even when that story meanders (as it does, say, at various times during the tracking of Josh Brolin’s Tom Chaney) or when too many incidents are packed improbably into too short a time frame (climactic fight scene, bash on the head, shooting, fall down a deep hole, snake attack and bite — take a breath — race to safety). Or that drawn-out postscript, which doesn’t amount to much at all.

Not that “True Grit” is a bad film. Bridges’ performance is far less precious than the one that won Wayne his only Oscar. At age 14, the same age as her character Mattie Ross, Hailee Steinfeld is more precociously effective than 20-year-old Darby. Damon is an actual actor, while Campbell never was anything more than a decent singer. And Barry Pepper, while no Duvall, deserves credit for his fake teeth.

Add in Roger  Deakins ‘ cinematography, plus the Coens’ abilities at framing specific scenes, and I have to say that “True Grit” is an enjoyable film. Even better than average. But  it isn’t up to the Coens’ usual standard.

Below : The trailer for “True Grit.”