In the past few years, the brothers Coen have been experimenting. With “No Country for Old Men,” they broke every rule of traditional cinema, and created a philosophical masterpiece. With “Burn After Reading,” they used Hollywood stars to create one of their most hilarious and mainstream (at least by their standards) films. And with last year’s “A Serious Man,” they took the philosophical elements of “No Country” and the comedic timing of “Burn After Reading” to create something altogether different (if not altogether successful), using unknown actors and personal elements from their childhood to push the boundaries of their own filmmaking even further. “True Grit,” however, does none of these things. It is both a return to forum for the Coens as well as a throwback to classic westerns in general.

Let me just go right ahead and say that this is probably my favorite Coen brothers movie ever. I’m not saying it’s their best, but I think I personally enjoyed it more than anything else they’ve ever done. Those that know me know that I have a rocky history with the Coens, often up and down, and unsure of some films that most people adore. But with this one, they’ve knocked it out of the park in every sense.

Let me also say that I haven’t seen the 1969 John Wayne film, so I can’t really compare it to that. What I can tell you is that both movies are based on the Charles Portis of the same name, and both tell the story of crotchety U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn and his quest to track down a killer at the behest of a young girl. The John Wayne movie won The Duke his only Oscar for playing a more vulnerable and flawed character than his usual onscreen persona, but the Coens take the touch of darkness in the ’69 movie and amp it up with their usual blend of bleak humor. As always, their writing, like their filmmaking, is direct, well paced, and conflicted. It wouldn’t be a Coens without a touch of sadness behind every smile. Whether I like their films or not, it’s clear by now that Joel and Ethan Coen are incredibly consistent artists, and their darkly comic worldview has made them a staple in modern cinema.

However, to merely call “True Grit” “consistent” does it a disservice. This movie is incredibly fun, in large part because of a fantastic ensemble. The Coens casting is in many ways equal parts important as their writing and directing (really, could you imagine anybody else but Javier Bardem playing Anton Chigurh?), and here they knock it out of the park once again. Jeff Bridges is nothing short of a complete joy to watch as Rooster Cogburn, and his hard-drinking, gun-shooting, mumbling performance may be his most enjoyable since, yes, perhaps the most famous of all the Coens iconic characters, The Dude. His simultaneously violent and goofy U.S. Marshall is as complex as he is funny. The other standout of course is Hailee Steinfeld, the young actress who plays Mattie Ross, the tenacious girl who employs Cogburn’s services to help her find her father’s killer. Steinfeld plays Ross with a no-nonsense, wise beyond her year’s confidence. However there are also moments where she conveys Ross’s childlike fears. It’s a dynamic performance, and I couldn’t help but feel that Ross is the one in the movie with “true grit” rather than Cogburn, although he is in many ways the one who helps her find it.

The movie has an excellent supporting cast too, led by Matt Damon as Texas Ranger LeBoeuf. It’s refreshing to see Damon play the fool, as opposed to his usual deadly serious on-screen persona. He’s the movie’s comedic relief, yet his character also takes himself and what he does so seriously that it’s impossible not to care for him. Josh Brolin, in a small, yet important performance plays Tom Cheney, the killer of Ross’s father. He’s also mostly played for laughs, although he proves to be menacing and somewhat vile as well. Cheney is a sort of one-dimensional character, however “True Grit” isn’t ultimately about what bad guys are being chased down as it is about the journey to reach to the aforementioned villains.

Perhaps the one way in which the Coens do push boundaries in this film is the blending of their style with the traditional western. The plot, characters, score, and even the look of the movie are all in accordance with the genre’s classics. However, they also infuse the film with their typically black comedy. One also gets the beautiful cinematography of the Coens usual D.P., Roger Deakins (seriously, give this guy an Oscar already!) synthesized with the long horizons of classic westerns, making the movie very lovely to behold.

“True Grit” is ultimately about the people who come into our lives and make an impact without necessarily even realizing it. Mattie Ross and Rooster Cogburn share a powerful bond, even though they are only acquainted for a short period in each other’s lives. Ross certainly entrusted Cogburn with an important assignment, but what she didn’t necessarily realize is that Cogburn would help to influence who she’d become as a person, and in some ways, one gets the feeling that Cogburn was also forever changed by his interaction with Ross. The rest of the world doesn’t understand their connection, but they don’t need to.