There's a reason Jeff Bridges won Oscar's best actor in this film. A true, yet washed up musician, banished to playing bowling alleys, Bad Blake (Bridges) is rolling along with wherever the wind, or a paying gig, takes him with the best of his career seemingly behind him. A lifetime tailor made for writing country music, he has resigned himself to life with the bottle and who ever is willing to follow him to bed at night. Then he meets Jean (a luminous Maggie Gyllenhaal) a reporter for the local paper who can't conceal a crush,
but can smell out a doomed relationship miles away. After dancing around a bit, they hook up together, an unlikely pair and Bad earnestly tries to make something work out where it hasn't before. His smooth talking and southern drawl charms his way into her heart, but his hard drinking gets in the way and causes many serious problems. Bridges is so good at being Bad that you can smell him; the cheap cigarettes and booze and sweat. He's very much human and greatly flawed. There is no CGI that can help the scene of him running to throw up while wearing his baggy white briefs. His belly is a gut and it just isn't pretty. He knows defeat and even when close to giving up still comes up for air. His scenes with Jean's son are lovely and sad all at the same time. I'm not a big country fan, but the music in the score by T-Bone Burnett and the duets sung with Colin Farrell are touching. Both Bridges and Farrell sung on their own. There's a pull of old country versus new country and I think Farrell did a good job portraying his new country character. It's hard to believe this was filmed in only 24 days. I really liked this movie what with such a stellar cast and exceptional lead. Bridges certainly earned the Oscar on this one.
December is my favorite movie watching month. Usually all the best films are released for the holiday season, a way to get Oscar minded folks to keep these films fresh in their minds. More than likely, True Grit didn't receive the accolades they deserved because the Coen brothers restyled the 1969 John Wayne True Grit. It's not a remake. The dialogue is fresh and snappy, what the Coen's are best at and the plot, while still following the original, has twists and turns that are brilliant. This was the ONLY movie this season that I both laughed and cried at; mind you, gut busting laughter. It's basically a story set in the wild old west where a young woman (a phenomenal Hailee Steinfeld) has "hired" a bounty hunter (an outstanding Jeff Bridges) to find the man who killed her father; classic tale of revenge. What isn't classic, is the bond
formed between this "colorful" character and this wise-beyond-her-years young girl. Sprinkle a little Matt Damon and Josh Brolin in and call it a party! There is comedy, drama, suspense and touching human interaction. What more could anyone want in a film?Watch the end credits where Buster Coen, Ethan Coen's son, is listed as "Mr. Damon's abs double". In reality, he was an on-set assistant to the script supervisor.
