Primal Fear (1996)

Director: Gregory Hoblit

Screenplay: Steve Shagan, Ann Biderman

Cast: Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Edward Norton

Music: James Newton Howard

Time: 130 minutes

Bottom-line: A pulse-racing courtroom drama, with Norton at his best

There are very few actors whose debut acting performance is their best, and Edward Norton is one of them. This courtroom drama stars Richard Gere and Laura Linney in the lead roles, with John Mahoney, Alfre Woodard and Frances McDormand in the supporting roles. I think it’s difficult to appreciate the film without giving away some spoilers, so if you haven’t seen it yet, take my word for it: it is well worth the watch.

Sooner or later, a man who wears two faces forgets which one is real.

Martin Vail (Gere) is a defence attorney, who loves his fame. He is intrigued by the brutal murder of Archbishop Rushman; the sole suspect is altar boy Aaron Stampler (Norton), who has a severe stutter. Vail offers to defend Aaron, pro bono, much to the shock of the prosecutor, Vail’s ex-lover, Janet Venable (Linney). Vail discovers that the corrupt state attorney (Mahoney) and other civic leaders have lost $60 million because of the Archbishop’s decisions not to develop on church lands. Vail also decides to get a psychiatrist (McDormand) for Aaron. As the case proceeds, Vail comes across a videotape with incriminating evidence that provides a motive for Aaron to murder Rushman, but at the same time, the tape would bring to public knowledge a dark secret. With Vail and Janet constantly coming up with new ideas and evidence, Vail also feels his client is hiding something big.

 

Gere as Vail

I have always liked courtroom dramas; where else can you show such a powerful and cunning battle of wits in so clean a manner? From cross-questioning to emotional outbursts, Primal Fear has everything. The story is like a mix of Witness for the Prosecution and The Usual Suspects. We are pulled right into the action in a seemingly open-and-shut case; as more evidence comes to the surface, each one with a twist, we are pushed to think further. The twist ending is highly impressive, and it’s pretty neat. I like how some incidents in the story which lead us to an obvious conclusion – including Aaron’s disorder – are cleverly crafted to fool us later. The only part I didn’t understand was how the psychiatrist was convinced that Aaron really did have a “problem”.  

 

Linney as Janet

Edward Norton was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and won the Golden Globe Award for the same. He brilliantly portrays Aaron and his “split personality”, and you appreciate it further when you see the twist ending. His line, “There was never any Aaron” sends chills down your spine. Richard Gere is also equally superb. Vail has style, he has cunning and is (sadly) also sensitive enough to fall for Aaron’s innocence. Gere’s disillusioned expression as he leaves Aaron for the last time is something he delivers so beautifully. Laura Linney has some high moments in the film too, especially the way she brings Aaron to his breaking point in court.

 

Norton as Aaron

The tension in the atmosphere is maintained really well, thanks to the acting with assistance from Howard’s score. The script is pretty solid, and the ending is the best part of the film. That’s enough reasons to watch Primal Fear.

My Rating: 3.5/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 74%

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

Director: Martin McDonagh

Story: Martin McDonagh

Cast: Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson

Music: Carter Burwell

Time: 115 minutes

Bottom-line: A dark and deeply emotional film; the best of the year

Winner of the BAFTA Best Picture Award, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was my pick for the Oscars as well. The film stars Frances McDormand in the lead role, with Sam Rockwell (both actors won Oscars for acting) and Woody Harrelson in the supporting roles. The film won 5 BAFTAs, was nominated for 7 Oscars and won two.    

"My daughter was murdered 7 months ago, and it seems the police is too busy torturing black folk to solve actual crimes."
In the titular town, Mildred Hayes (McDormand) is grieving the rape and murder of her teenage daughter, seven months earlier. Angered at the lack of attention given to this case, she rents three billboards and writes on them: “RAPED WHILE DYING", "STILL NO ARRESTS?", and "HOW COME, CHIEF WILLOUGHBY?" This upsets all the town folk, including Chief Willoughby (Harrelson), who suffers from terminal pancreatic cancer, and Officer Dixon (Rockwell), a racist and violent alcoholic. Dixon arrests Mildred’s co-worker on false charges, Willoughby later commits suicide, and Mildred’s divorced husband also blames her for her daughter’s death. Mildred is then cheated when she is informed that she hasn’t paid enough for the billboards, and later, the boards are destroyed in a fire. How does she retaliate? Does the case finally get solved?

McDormand as Mildred

The first 45 minutes or so introduce the various characters to the viewers. Following Willoughby’s suicide, the story then takes a turn to show how one incident can cause a chain reaction and affect everyone in the neighbourhood. The character transformations are realistically and powerfully shown. Mildred stays determined throughout the film, and every hurdle she faces makes her tougher, even violent at times. But there are times when it’s just too much to bear and she breaks down; McDormand has done her part superbly and certainly deserves her second Oscar. Willoughby’s character – despite his short screen time – is the plot catalyst. His suicide is the turning point of the story, and is responsible to bring about a change in all the characters.

 

Harrelson as Willoughby (left) and Rockwell
as Dixon 

Sam Rockwell’s performance is brilliant; Dixon undergoes a change from being the brutal drunkard to the helpful friend who even gets himself severely injured just to provide Mildred with some evidence related to her case. Peter Dinklage has a supporting role in the film, as Mildred’s friend, James. The ending of the film is on not exactly on a positive note. It has an ambiguous climax, but it shows that life will go on no matter what. The film also portrays how situations can push you to your extreme limits, and how the same situations can bring you the most unlikely friends. In a tale as dark and depressing as this, Mildred’s determination and her friendships with James, and later with Dixon, stand out.

 

The three billboards

The film had such an impact that several protestors in various places across the globe set up similar billboards – for the Grenfell Tower Fire, and the Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting, to name a few.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is far from a comfortable watch, but in a way, it sends out a message that there will always be a light at the end of the tunnel. McDormand’s and Rockwell’s performances are exceptional, and the film is one of my favourites of 2017.

My Rating: 4.5/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 92%

Jerry Maguire (1996)

Director: Cameron Crowe

Story: Cameron Crowe

Cast: Tom Cruise, Renée Zellweger, Cuba Gooding Jr.

Music: Nancy Wilson

Time: 138 minutes

Bottom-line: Passionate and entertaining; Cruise at his best 

Nominated for 5 Academy Awards and winning one, Cameron Crowe’s sports drama film stars Tom Cruise, Renée Zellweger and Cuba Gooding Jr. in the lead roles, with Jay Mohr and Jonathan Lipnicki in the supporting cast. Mixing humour, romance, sport and drama in the right proportions, Jerry Maguire hits all the right notes to cater to a wide audience.

 

Cruise as Maguire - yelling "Show me the money!"

“Show me the money!”

Jerry Maguire (Cruise) is a stylish 35-year-old sports agent working for “Sports Management International”. After having an epiphany, he decides to write a mission statement (not a memo!) about the dishonesty in the sports business, and decides to try a new approach where he has fewer clients, so that he can give more attention to each. SMI fires Jerry and Bob Sugar (Mohr) takes his place. As Jerry leaves, an accountant and 26-year-old single mother, Dorothy Boyd (Zellweger) agrees to join him. Sugar turns all of Jerry’s clients towards SMI, but one client, Arizona Cardinals player Rod Tidwell (Gooding Jr.) sticks with Jerry, hoping that the latter can get him a $10 million contract. As time goes, Jerry becomes close with Dorothy’s son, Ray (Lipnicki), and also breaks up with his girlfriend. Jerry and Dorothy admit their love for each other, but with both of them having precarious jobs, how will the relationship thrive?

 

Zellweger as Dorothy

While films like Raging Bull focus a lot on the sport, the story also tells how an obsession with the career can tear the family apart. On the other hand, there are the feel-good sports films like Cinderella Man (also starring Zellweger!) and Jerry Maguire. Cutting right to the chase, the main story begins within the first twenty minutes (giving sufficient character intros) with Jerry’s current post, his epiphany and him being fired all being covered. The story builds around the romantic relationship between Jerry and Dorothy, as well as the friendship between Jerry and Tidwell, as they go from being purely agent-and-client to thick friends.

 

Gooding Jr. as Tidwell

Cruise was nominated for an Oscar for his role, and Gooding Jr. went on to win in the Supporting Actor category. Carrying his natural charm and charisma, Cruise shows that he can play an emotional character as well. As he fiercely supports his client on one hand, he also lovingly cares for Dorothy and Ray on the other. Gooding Jr. is pretty impressive too, with his pumped-up energy and animated body language defining his character. Zellweger packs more emotional content into her character than everyone else put together. At times, her expression so beautifully blends happiness, love and tears (look out for the famous line “You had me at ‘hello’”).

 

Lipnicki as Ray

In a world where everyone’s after money, Jerry Maguire – even though it is scripted – makes you think how life is more than just that. Importantly, it is about people – a friend, a lover, someone who looks up to you… how each of them matter in one’s life more than what one earns in his job. Jerry Maguire is more than just a sports film; watch it and be inspired.

My Rating: 4/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 83%

Enemy (2013)

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Screenplay: Javier Gullón (based on the book by José Saramago)

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Sarah Gadon, Mélanie Laurent 

Music: Daniel Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans

Time: 90 minutes

Bottom-line: An eerie thriller, with too many convoluted interpretations

Denis Villeneuve’s second Hollywood film after Prisoners­, Enemy is a psychological thriller with several David Lynchian surreal bits mixed with it. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal – in one (or two, rather!) of his best performances yet – Sarah Gadon and Mélanie Laurent, the film starts out with a simple plot, but eventually uses a lot of subtle hints and psychological interpretations to give a story that leaves you wondering what the hell you just saw.

 

Gyllenhaal as Adam (left) and Anthony (right); the
picture shows the difference in their traits - Adam
being cowed into submission by Anthony

Chaos is order yet undeciphered.

Toronto: Adam Bell (Gyllenhaal) is a college history professor, who seems to lead a dull life: he has a blank face, drooping shoulders, and even his girlfriend, Mary (Laurent) can’t seem to cheer him up much. Following the advice of a friend, he rents a movie, and spots his physical doppelganger – a man named Anthony Claire, who has done very minor roles in just three films. As he tracks down Anthony, he finds that they are identical in every way – even sharing a scar on their chest. However, Anthony is hot-headed and craves for sexual pleasures, and has a (very) pregnant wife, Helen (Gadon). What starts out as a simple search for a man turns into a nightmare for everyone involved.

 

Laurent as Mary

There have been numerous films made about twins – including several where the fact that there are twins involved is the plot twist. In Enemy, the plot is not that great. The strong suits of the film are the anxious, suspenseful sequences, and the silent encounters between characters. The scene where the two doppelgangers meet for the first time is quite intense, and equally riveting are the ones where Helen meets Adam for the first time, and when Anthony follows Mary in the bus, and later when Adam and Helen meet again. I was hoping for more such bits in the plot, which could have been extended to well beyond 90 minutes.

Dialogues are kept to a minimum, and the silence itself is chilling. Most scenes are shot in a yellowish sepia hue, giving an eerie visual appearance. Villeneuve sort of expects us to guess what the gameplay of the characters would be, and while there aren’t any real “plot twists”, it is exciting to keep predicting what would happen the next instant, almost entirely through the second half. There are several explanations and interpretations of the plot, starting from the question of whether there are indeed two doppelgangers. Tarantulas are a recurring theme of the film, from the “unrelated” opening sequence in an underground room to the climax.

 

Gadon as Helen

Jake Gyllenhaal is simply outstanding in this film. He plays two polar-opposite characters – their behaviour, nuances, expressions and dialogues – perfectly. Usually, the dialogues and the context are the only things that tell the two characters apart. Gadon and Laurent have done well too – the former playing the troubled, worried wife, and the latter playing the innocent victim to the course of events that follow the meeting of the doppelgangers.

Now, you may have seen anti-climaxes, plot twists at the last minute, or the other extreme where you don’t know how to make sense of the ending. Enemy falls under the third category, but if there was ever an ending – the final image before the screen cuts to black – that will impact you like a train hitting a fishbowl, Enemy’s would be a top contender. It is not the most satisfying climax, but try getting that image out of your head!

My Rating: 3.5/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 75%

Get Out (2017)

Director: Jordan Peele

Story: Jordan Peele

Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams

Music: Michael Abels

Time: 103 minutes

Bottom-line: Has surprises around every corner

Jordan Peele’s debut film, Get Out, is a chilling thriller starring Black Mirror star Daniel Kaluuya and Allison Williams in the lead roles, with Catherine Keener, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Landry Jones and Lil Rel Howery in the supporting roles. The film is heavily doped with a lot of racist remarks and comments, so you would want to consider that if it is a sensitive topic.

Just because you are invited, doesn't mean you are welcome. 
African-American photographer Chris (Kaluuya) reluctantly agrees to meet the family of his white girlfriend, Rose (Williams), in their isolated countryside estate. On the way there, Rose hits a deer, and they report it, but the incident eventually goes unrecorded. Rose’s parents: neurosurgeon Dean (Whitford), hypnotherapist Missy (Keener) and brother Jeremy (Jones) make unsettling comments about blacks right from the start. Chris notices that the two black servants, Georgina and Walter, behave strangely; the former often unplugs Chris’ phone when it charges, claiming absent-mindedness. Missy also hypnotises Chris to help him get rid of his cigarette addiction. In the family’s annual get-together, Chris notices another black man, Logan, who looks familiar. Chris informs about these weird incidents to his black friend: TSA agent Rod Williams (Howrey), who recognises Logan as a missing person, and warns Chris. As Chris explores further, he stumbles upon a disturbing plot, and realises that it is too late to “get out”.

 

Kaluuya as Chris, and Williams as Rose

First disclaimer: right from the outset, in every plot description/review/article on the film, you will find a lot of emphasis on “black” and “white” and related terms. Second disclaimer: I wouldn’t call this a horror film; yes, it has a lot of violence and gore, but not horror. In fact, thanks to Rod’s character, there are much-needed humour bits too! One aim of the film was to highlight the lack of emphasis given to the missing black people in America, compared to the missing whites.

Whitford as Dean, and Keener as Missy

The story is pretty engaging. The air of mystery slowly builds up, starting with Missy’s hypnosis session, where she digs deep into Chris’ dark past as a child. Then comes the mystery of the characters Georgina and Walter, who act way too weirdly. Why is a "missing" person at the get-together? Why is everyone so racist? What's with the weird auction scene? The last 45 minutes of the film or so are about the secret Chris stumbles upon, and his attempts to escape. There are a lot of subtle hints given throughout the film, starting with the deer incident. The climax that you see in the film is clean, while there is an official alternate ending: one that is way darker.

 

Howrey as Rod

The performances by both the leads: Kaluuya and Williams are highly commendable. The way Rose’s family members act in the second half of the film is truly chilling. Lil Rey Howrey chips in with a good amount of humour, and his character is the plot catalyst. The secret that Chris discovers is something that you certainly wouldn’t have predicted, and it’s definitely discomfiting to think that someone would go so far to get the job done. One particular scene I liked is the phone conversation between Rose and Rod, where the former cunningly calls Rod’s bluff.

Get Out’s main strength lies in its sinister atmosphere, the build-up of suspense, the acting of Kaluuya and Williams, and a tight storyline that wraps everything up cleanly. It is one of the highest rated films of the year, and well worth watching.

My Rating: 3.5/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 99% 

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Director: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez

Story: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez

Cast: Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams and Joshua Leonard

Music: Antonio Cora

Time: 81 minutes

Bottom-line: Interesting idea, but hardly scary

Normally, I would avoid horror movies whose sole intent is to scare the viewer; I prefer “intelligent” horror films which make use of horror but have a mystery element to them. Yet, my friend convinced me that this would be a “different” type of horror film, and so we watched it. While it was indeed “different”, if you want a scare, The Blair Witch Project is not recommended.

October 1994: Three unnamed students (Heather, Williams and Leonard) decide to make a documentary about the Blair Witch fable, in Maryland. Locals confirm the myth of “a woman whose feet never touch the ground” and other spooky incidents in that area. The three of them find a site where five men were ritualistically murdered. As the three of them go deeper into the woods, they lose track of where they parked their car, and are stuck there longer than planned. At night, they hear mysterious sounds of twigs snapping, but can never find any source of the noise. As the friends are terrorised by other faceless forces, they start to lose their calm. When Josh suddenly disappears, they realise that they are in much deeper trouble than expected.

 

Heather 

The film’s narrative is called a “found footage” format. The entire story is basically the footage the students took in their adventure. The cinematography has all the flaws of a documentary format: shaky cam, bad lighting etc. but that is the intention here. The viewer can see and have the same experience as the students themselves. This film revolutionised this technique, even if it wasn’t the first one to use it. There is no background score as such; all the sounds you hear are stuff heard by the trio too.

 

Williams and Leonard

  (Spoiler alert) The story takes place over a few days, starting from the group enquiring about the myth, and exploring the place themselves, to the point where get mentally affected by the unknown force. That’s the main highlight of the film: the “evil force” or “witch” is never shown! It is only the mere presence of the spirit that drives the trio to the end of their wits. So, as a viewer, if you’re expecting jump scares or gory-looking monsters, you are not getting any. I, for one, wasn’t scared at all, but was pretty impressed by the portrayal of the idea that – as Roger Ebert puts it – “The noise in the dark is almost always scarier than what makes the noise in the dark”.

The acting is pretty bad by all three actors. While the idea might be to keep everything realistic, the acting wasn’t natural at all. After a point, it was just incoherent screaming injected with cuss words. Long story short, you can watch the film just for the feel of the found footage technique. The story is average, the acting is horrible, and it is certainly not scary.

My Rating: 2.5/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 86%

The Lunchbox (2013)

Director: Ritesh Batra

Story: Ritesh Batra

Cast: Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Music: Max Richter

Time: 105 minutes

Bottom-line: Sweet and moving; a lovely family drama

Ritesh Batra’s first feature film is an epistolary romantic drama, starring Irrfan Khan and Nimrat Kaur in the lead roles, with Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the supporting role. In the era of WhatsApp, Facebook and Tinder, The Lunchbox is a tale where the good old art of writing letters brings about a romance between two complete strangers. The film was Irrfan Khan’s highest grossing film till Hindi Medium.

Saajan Fernandes (Khan) is a widower who is about to quit his job as an accountant. He is socially awkward and has distanced himself from everyone ever since his wife’s death. His replacement at work is Shaikh (Siddiqui), a young chap whose incompetence initially annoys Saajan, but they soon become close friends. Meanwhile, Ila (Kaur) is a wife and mother, who is trying to bring back romance into her relationship with her husband by cooking delicious food for him, but (as she later finds out), he is already having an affair with someone else. When the lunchbox intended for her husband gets wrongly delivered to Saajan, Ila decides to write an apology letter to him the next day and place it in the same lunchbox. This gets a conversation started between them, and they exchange letters through the lunchbox every day. As the messages become more personal, what happens when Ila and Saajan finally decide to meet?

 

Kaur as Ila

The film’s story makes use of the dabbawalla network in Mumbai – a group of men who form a delivery system for lunchboxes from homes and hotels to workplaces – since it is a mix-up in this network that causes the lunchbox to go to Saajan by mistake. Of course, in reality, the dabbawalla network has been praised by many to be flawless, and has even been taken up as a case study at Harvard. The highlight of the story is its simplicity – an everyday household, a normal accountant, a seemingly annoying colleague and a helpful neighbour all get involved in a beautiful love story.

 

Irrfan as Saajan (left) and Siddiqui as
Shaikh

Irrfan Khan’s acting – as always – is brilliant. He somehow brings a charm to the deadpan expression he puts on throughout the film – something that Bill Murray also had a surprising ability to do. It is heart-warming to see the change he undergoes: when Ila first writes the apology letter, he replies with nothing more than “Dear Ila, the food was very salty today”, but as time progresses, she finds comfort in telling her secrets to him. Nimrat Kaur’s acting is also superb, and Siddiqui brings the occasional dry humour to the story, and his character plays a crucial role in making Saajan open to friendship.

The high point of the film is when Ila suggests that she and Saajan meet in person, and what actually happens is not something everyone would approve of. The ending is bittersweet, and to some extent, open-ended. In a film with a very unconventional romance, Batra has done exceptionally well not to go into any of the usual clichés of Hindi cinema, nor has he made it too awkward and unrealistic. It is the perfect blend of realism and emotional content.   

My Rating: 4.5/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 96%

A Quiet Place (2018)

Director: John Krasinski

Story: Bryan Woods and Scott Beck

Cast: Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe

Music: Marco Beltrami

Time: 90 minutes

Bottom-line: Simple, effective and frightening

Krasinski’s science- fiction horror film stars Emily Blunt and Krasinski himself in the lead roles. Set in a dystopian future, this story is like a Black Mirror episode with aliens.

The year 2020: the human population has been nearly wiped out by an alien species without sight, but with hypersensitive hearing. These creatures have a seemingly impenetrable armoured shell, and attack anything that makes a sound. One family survives: a husband Lee (Krasinski), his wife Evelyn (Blunt), their deaf daughter Regan (Simmonds) and their sons Marcus (Jupe) and Beau; they scavenge for food in a deserted town. Beau is soon killed by an alien when his toy makes noise. A year later, Evelyn is in the final stages of pregnancy, and Regan is feeling guilty over Beau’s death. One day, Marcus and Lee go fishing, Regan visits Beau’s grave, and Evelyn, alone at home, goes into labour. Unable to control her pain, Evelyn’s screams attract nearby aliens. How do the others save her?

 

Krasinski as Lee, Simmonds as Regan
and Jupe as Marcus

Since the aliens attack any source of sound, there are hardly ten lines of dialogue throughout the film; the characters communicate entirely through sign language. There is a chilling background score, and the cinematography is brilliant. The close-ups and lighting are effectively used. There are a couple of gory scenes with the aliens but that makes the scares more effective. The dystopian setting – deserted areas and stark open lands emphasise even more on how lonely this family actually is.

The story is simple enough; there is no plot as such, but it is just a set of survival incidents. The second half of the film is almost in real time, once Evelyn goes into labour. The ending is a cliff-hanger, and the viewers can decide how things pan out after the screen cuts to black. Emily Blunt’s acting is the other main highlight. The scenes where she struggles to keep quiet and distract the aliens during her contractions bring out the best in her acting. The child actors Simmonds and Jupe have done really well too. In a cold surrounding, the warmth between the family members stands out in contrast. The scene where Lee saves his children from aliens is one of the most emotional parts of the film.  

Blunt as Evelyn

The new idea of a species attacking only by sound is pretty impressive. It makes us think all the everyday things that are actually impossible to do without making noise. The other interesting horror-thriller film that comes to mind is Don’t Breathe, where three thieves try to escape a blind man (think it’s so easy? Watch the film to find out!). A Quiet Place is well worth watching for its sinister atmosphere and Emily Blunt’s acting. 

My Rating: 3.5/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 95%

True Grit (2010)

Director: Joel and Ethan Coen

Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen (based on the book by Charles Portis)

Cast: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Hailee Steinfeld

Music: Carter Burwell

Time: 110 minutes

Bottom-line: Solid acting and excellent visuals; not a great story

In a year filled with blockbusters, True Grit was relatively unrecognised. The Coens’ Western film stars Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Hailee Steinfeld in the lead roles, with Barry Pepper and Josh Brolin in the supporting cast. The film is the first actual “revenge” story that the Coens have written for the screen. True Grit was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, but won none.

 

Steinfeld as Mattie

Fort Smith, Arkansas: Mattie Ross (Steinfeld) is a 14-year-old girl whose father has been robbed and murdered by Tom Chaney (Brolin). When Mattie approaches the local sheriff for justice, he says that Chaney has fled to an Indian territory, where the sheriff is powerless. He advises Mattie to look for a US marshal instead. Mattie talks to Marshal “Rooster” Cogburn (Bridges) and strikes a deal to pay him $50 if he brings back Chaney to Fort Smith, where he will be hanged. A Texas Ranger, La Beouf (Damon) is also looking for Chaney, who is wanted after killing a Texas senator. He wants to team up with Mattie and Cogburn and split the reward, but she refuses. In the pursuit of Chaney, the grit of each of the three characters is tested.

Bridges as Cogburn

Jeff Bridges and Steinfeld both received nominations for acting (Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress). The former, with his stylish action, mixed with moments of drunken behaviour, with his cussing and brawls, does well to capture our attention as well as tickle our funny bone. The latter was cast after competing with around 15000 others, and boy did she pull off an amazing job! With incredible maturity, her character pretty much drives the first half of the film, with the way she convinces Cogburn to do the job for her, and the manner in which she demands money for the horses. This is one of Matt Damon’s better performances, and his quarrels with Cogburn in particular, are hilarious.

 

Damon as La Beouf

As I said, the first half of the story is how Mattie gathers all her resources and sets about her revenge mission. After that, it becomes a tale of conflicts and differences between the three characters, and how they pull through. I was a bit disappointed that Brolin had very little screen time, while the image of his terror was built up a lot. The “climax” turns out to be an anti-climax; while all Coen brothers’ films have this sort of succinct climax – quick, unexpected, but logical – here, it just didn’t have that wow effect. The “epilogue” part of the film talks about how despite all the efforts made by people to stay in touch, sometimes it just never happens; all we have are memories of the past. That was a nice, sentimental touch to finish off with.

 

Brolin as Chaney

The period settings and cinematography add up to give us stunning visuals. The fights, shooting and the action are captured brilliantly. The score by Carter Burwell is also soothing – though it is an action/Western film. Overall, the film lacks a gripping plot compared to the other Coens films, but the acting, cinematography and the ending lift the film. This is far from their best work, but it’s a decent film.

My Rating: 3/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 95%