WILD WEST BERLIN –True Grit Opens the Berlin Film Festival
By Bennett Owen
My nose is still bleeding but I was there, along with about a thousand of my closest friends, as True Grit took a bow in its international premier.
They liked it. Not just for the Coen Brothers’ idiosyncrasies;
not only for the superb acting and star power of Jeff Bridges and Josh Brolin and Matt Damon. Not because it’s a movie you’re ‘supposed’ to like.
They liked it because it’s a powerful and well-told story that extols the virtues of courage, valor, faith and determination…True Grit…and all that bundled up inside a 14-year old girl named Mattie Ross.
The smart money in Berlin says international audiences will stay away from this uniquely American film. But at the reception afterwards a prominent German actress, Veronica Ferres swooned, saying, “The actors were men, not the pretty boys that star in our movies.”
And for any man with a child, the love and devotion shown in that final, four-minute flight to civilization is positively heartbreaking. I’ll be watching that scene over and over…until the pixels fade…or the tears stop coming…whichever comes first.
Some random notes:
- Jeff Bridges seems like a truly likeable fellow with a keen sense of humor
- Hailee Steinfeld received major thumbs up for her choice of dress. She’s having great fun with her new-found fame
- The director of the Berlinale admits he was disappointed that the film lacked the trademark Coen Brothers quirks.
The German critics believe this film marks the swan song of a genre. I predict it signals a renaissance.
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