Review - True Grit (Coens, 2010) * * * *

It is pretty much resolved that the Coen Brothers could create a beautiful cinematic experience out of paint drying. In their latest opus "True Grit", the intrepid duo re-interpret a classic Charles Portis novel (already filmed in 1969 featuring an Oscar winning performance by John Wayne in the lead role) set in the Wild West and manage to inject it with enough heart, ugly beauty and trademark wit to create a piece of work all their own.

Newcomer Hailee Steinfeld plays 14-year-old Mattie Ross, a stern, focused young woman who embarks on a quest to avenge her daddy's death at the hands of Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin, again proving he's at his best working with the Coen Brothers). Along for the ride is Jeff Bridges in another hugely memorable performance as Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn, a surly but violently determined U.S Marshal, and LaBoeuf, an insecure Texas Ranger played with grace and a fair dollop of intensity by Matt Damon.

And while the acting as a whole is uniformly outstanding, the standout elements here are the uncompromising strength of the writing, direction, and sumptuous camera work from Roger Deakins. A scene involving Steinfeld's Ross bargaining with a nervous trader is just such classic Coen brothers and reminded me of the legendary gas station scene with Javier Bardem from "No Country For Old Men"; even in close personal exchanges, the Coens can put us through the emotional wringer with just a little pitch-perfect editing, finely tuned acting and crackling dialogue.

This is also an uncompromisingly violent film, despite its PG-13 rating. Thematically, the Coens plumb familiar depths here, but this film is almost like a populist "No Country For Old Men": The grey areas of human violence are once again explored, but where "No Country" was cold, detatched and contemplative, this film is personal, warm and quite human.

Some viewers should take discretion in that a lot of the dialogue (especially that of Bridges' perpetually drunk Cogburn) is unintelligible, but thanks to Steinfeld's measured performance and the Coens' meticulous attention to all the details, "True Grit" is the best old-school western in recent memory.

Review - Blue Valentine (Cianfrance, 2010) * * * *

I love movies that force me to follow them into an abyss of uncertainty or even a kind of mysterious ambiguity. Derek Cianfrance's "Blue Valentine" does exactly that, but in a much more emotionally manipulative way than most films that consciously leave plot details, or in this case, conclusions, unclear. The film takes the old adage that "love is blind" and forces us to hinge on both the negative and positive aspects of it.

Cianfrance, whom apparently spent numerous years writing the script and choreographing the visual style of the film, throws us into the lives of Dean (Ryan Gosling, in another bravura-knockout role) and Cindy (Michelle Williams, also fantastic, in an Oscar nominated role), a married couple with a small daughter, currently on the sexual rocks of their relationship. We move back in time with them too, witnessing the birth of their relationship; the passionate intensity that informed their early sexual encounters.

In both time-frames we are forced to consider a number of questions: In the earlier setting we ask what extent idealism is informing Dean and Cindy's early notions of true love, and in the latter, we begin to question what happens when that idealism fades away and reality sets in. Essentially, the film forces viewers to witness the creation of a prototypical version of love, then its destruction.

This film has been subject to some weirdly intense controversy regarding its sex scenes. In this reviewer's view, there is no controversy; the sex scenes in this film (especially the controversial one in question) are pretty much un-erotic for the viewer. They remain cold, and objective.

I saw this film too late, in early 2011. It's certainly one of the best films of last year and a very challenging, impeccably made, acted and written love-drama.

Let's hope Cianfrance is someone we can look forward to in the future.

-CC