In late 19th-century Arkansas, Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) is a fourteen-year-old woman determined to avenge her father’s murder. The killer, named Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), fled the scene of the crime unpunished. He is reportedly in hiding with a gang of outlaws far enough away that local authorities abandon giving chase. After an effective bargaining match with a vendor under the pretext that she knows a good lawyer, Mattie acquires enough money to hire a marshal to go after Chaney. She decides on Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), who has the most merciless of reputations. Despite Cogburn’s attempts to the contrary, Mattie comes along for the ride. Joining them is Texas ranger LeBoeuf (Matt Damon), who is hunting Chaney because of an unrelated crime.

If that sounds like a straight-forward Western, that’s because it is. What distinguishes True Grit is the humour of its performances and the depth of its craft. Bridges plays Cogburn as a skilled gunslinger who radiates the aura of a putrid stench. Damon’s LeBoeuf is kinder and wiser than he may at first appear. As Mattie, Steinfeld steals the show: she’s tough, plucky and unsentimental in all the right ways. “You give out little sugar with your pronouncements,” observes LeBoeuf of our heroine. He’s quite right.

The film was written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, based on the novel by Charles Portis, which was filmed in 1969 with John Wayne in the Cogburn role. One of its pleasures is how the Coens savour the regional language and speech patterns of the time period. Another is Roger Deakins’ astonishing cinematography, which will surely win him the Oscar. The courtroom scene where Mattie sees Cogburn for the first time has a uniquely dusty light emanating from the windows. One ascending crane shot shows the protagonists in the distance as the mountains behind them rise up from the horizon. There’s a breathtaking beauty about True Grit, but at its heart stands the gratitude of Mattie Ross, who experienced the greatest adventure of her life. I can’t think of a genre exercise more joyful than this one.