Winter's Bone is a bleak, unsparing drama about a 17-year old woman named Ree (played by Jennifer Lawrence, and she's riveting) who is the caretaker of her psychologically damaged mother and two younger siblings in the absence of her father, a man who has gone to jail for cooking methamphetamines in the backwoods of the Ozarks. His bail has been posted, but there's a catch--he put up his family's home to secure the bond and now he has gone missing. Ree takes upon herself to find her father to save her home. She must bring him to his appointed court date or, worse prove that he is dead in order to keep from losing her home.
What makes the movie special is the documentary-like look at a subculture you don't see in movies or on TV that much: the rural life among the disposessed in Missouri's Ozarks. Support of a kind is supplied to Ree from her Uncle Teardrop, played with gravelly menace by long time indie character actor John Hawkes, a fellow meth cooker who may know a lot more than he lets on about what happened to his brother. Dale Dickey plays "Merab", an antagonist to Ree's family who potentially has a lot to lose if the father turns up.
Sure, sometimes Winter's Bone is so bleak and unsparing it is hard to watch, but it is never a chore to sit through. It is well-paced, like a thriller and beautifully acted, especially by Lawrence who effectively conveys desperation, tenderness, steely resolve, vulnerability and toughness in her quest to find her father and keep her family together. Its a real long shot, but a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her would be well-deserved.
Winter's Bone is definitely one of the best films of 2010.
Winter's Bone was released by Anonymous Content during the summer of 2010. It is now available on DVD. Written and directed by Debra Granik. Also written by Anne Rosellini. It is based on a novel by Daniel Woodworth.
Other Good Movies Similar in Subject or Tone to Winter's Bone: River's Edge, The Straight Story.
Peace...
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