I had a little
solitary telly time the other day, so I put on the Coen Brother’s remake of
True Grit on Netflix. I watched an hour or so of it and enjoyed it greatly. A day
later, I came back and caught some more.
I’m just at the ‘Fill your hands, you son-of-a-bitch’
scene so I’ll probably slide back and finish it sometime today. Sometime when
it’s quiet in the living room.
Okay…
Hardly
earth-shattering, Ken. Hardly the subject for a Sunday post, even on a blog
like this, where navel-gazing has been the order of the day for years now.
Well, okay,
there is one little twist to the tale I suppose. It’s not a massive one so don’t
get your pants in a knot or anything.
Here it is…
This is third
time I’ve watched the movie since lockdown began. I would also have watched it
five or six other times when it appeared on telly or when I first saw it on DVD
when it came out.
It’s true
that I have a great affection for the movie. I’ve been a fan of the Coens
since I first saw Blood Simple in one of the smaller screens in the (then) Warner
West End in Leicester Square in 1984. I remember the buzz of seeing a first trailer
for True Grit online about ten years ago. It seemed like a fine fit; the excellent
source material, the creative team, and the inimitable Jeff Bridges. I didn’t
see it in the movies for some reason. Okay, I know the reason. I had stopped going
to movies for myself by that time and only really went when the boys wanted to
see something.
I love most
everything about it. If I wanted to try to give you a foothold into it, I would
say the opening two minutes and thirty seconds are some of the most beautiful and
eye-catching ones I can remember seeing. The juxtaposition of the opening lines
from the novel with the dead father in the snow. Mattie’s arrival in the town,
where the railway tracks run out. And, through it all, the elegiac score by Carter
Burwell. Roger Deakin’s vision makes it the most extraordinary film to look at.
Images and scenes burn into your brain.
There’s a moment in the courthouse
scene where Rooster makes a smart reply to a question, “I always go backwards
when I'm backin' up” and then, magically, he quietly applauds himself by
tapping the arm of his chair with the palm of his hand. My Dad used to do that,
a tiny gesture of appreciation whenever his own humour struck home with himself. It’s a personal
connection to the film.
But if I
were to single out one thing (and it would not be an easy task) I would point
to the heightened language used in the film. The quirky, slightly formal language
of the novel (and, presumably of the time), honed and perfected by the Coens, is
lapped up by the actors who bring such grace and poise to their pronouncements,
no matter how violent, no matter how cruel.
And when
LeBeouf departs, saying to Mattie, “I misjudged you as well. I extend my hand”,
it is as moving a movie-moment as I know.
And if you
haven’t seen it and you go and see it now, possibly on the strength of this
love-letter, you probably won’t have the same regard for it as I do. Over multiple
re-watching, it has become more to me than a cinematic entertainment. It is, I
suppose, a sort of ‘comfort blanket’, one that shows that, despite everything,
there is still vision and wit and skill abroad in the world.
When I was
re-watching the middle section this week, for the umpteenth time, I took to gently
berating myself. “Here you sit, Ken Armstrong,” I said to myself, “with a
hundred films at your disposal that you should see and that you have never seen
and yet you watch this one again. Is your brain dead from lockdown? Is all
initiative gone?”
But then,
after I let up on myself a little, I came to a simple realisation that I soon
decided could be the theme of this week’s post. I haven’t even said it yet
although it is hinted-at in the title of this piece.
It is simply
this. We can watch our movies over and over again and not need to feel remorseful
or squandering of our precious time. A film can be like a long song. One that
we listen to again and again and one that will brighten our day should we happen upon
it out in the world. We may think we know every note and every key change,
every breath the singer takes. But each
visit brings us something new, some small further small detail is revealed.
It’s great
to see new things, to branch out. But it’s good to play the hits now and again
too.
And good to sing
along.