True Grit

A precocious young girl engages a belligerent US Marshall to track down the murderer of her father.

I never saw the original and am not particularly fond of western movies but on the recommendation of friends I went to see True Grit with some degree of ambivalence. The viewing did not get off to a good start with the screening not correctly aligned for the cinemascope configuration. I put up with this for a while assuming a projectionist would be monitoring the cinema and correct the situation. As the film progressed and it became clear that nothing was changing I went in search of a staff member in the multiplex and had to go all the way back to the box office before finding someone to whom I could report the problem.

By the time I returned to the auditorium Jeff Bridges had made an appearance in the film, giving evidence in some trial apparently, and he seemed to be observing the Marlon Brando 'marbles in mouth' school of acting. I could only understand about a third of his dialogue and he continued in that vein for the remainder of the film.

I enjoyed some of the cinematography, some scenes and got the general gist of the plot despite so much incompehensible speech but aside from a terrific performance by Hailee Steinfeld as the young girl - a star in the making methinks - most of the rest was a disappointment.