Winter’s Bone
Directed by Debra Granik
Starring Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes
Rated R for some drug content, language and violent content
Late in Winter’s Bone a boy is briefly shown rolling on a skateboard on a piece of plywood. He scoots forwards and backwards as far as the limited area of the plywood will allow, content to experience a skateboard on a 4 foot by 8 foot rectangle. In the same way, the characters in wander through their Missouri farming community, not quite aware of the limitations their environment has placed on them. Meth addiction has become as familiar and integral to coping with the hardships of farming life as folk music was one hundred years ago.
Seventeen-year-old Ree is stuck with the task of raising her two younger siblings as well as taking care of her mentally-ill mother and making sure they have enough food and firewood. Her meth-cooking father has skipped bond, and if he misses his court date, she’ll lose their house. When she goes looking for him, she can’t get a straight answer from anyone. All the men in her community (most of whom are related to her somehow) hide behind their reputations, usually sending the women in their lives to handle Ree’s questions. As her search turns up dirtier dealings than she expected, she becomes a lone soldier in a stand off against not only those responsible, but also against the life brought on her by the sins of her father.
A much-talked about film on the festival circuit, Winter’s Bone vividly depicts a world probably not well known by most of its audiences. As Ree walks from farm to farm, director Granik creates an atmosphere that manages to be at once hyper-realistic and surreal. The squalor of the rusting, ruinous farms sometimes take on a German-silent-film expressionist feel, punctuated by distant gunshots. The houses, fences and families are cobbled together and barely standing. Shot with fluid beauty, the landscape becomes as elegiac and liltingly gorgeous as a folk ballad.
Jennifer Lawrence gives an understated and moving performance as Ree, a girl trying to survive with her family. As she unflinchingly confronts the people around her, she maintains the uneasy balance of fire and fear in her eyes. John Hawkes (an underused performer probably best known for his roles in Me and You and Everyone We Know and Deadwood) unobtrusively steals the show as Ree’s terrifying and heartbreaking uncle Teardrop.
Winter’s Bone may go criminally unnoticed by the mass movie-going public, but it is one of the year’s best films so far. Without stooping to judgmentalism or condescension, director Debra Granik illuminates a major problem that most of us are under-informed about.
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Ryan Ebling has an as-yet meaningless degree in English and Communications. He currently works in a high school special education classroom.
Just saw this last night, and completely agree with your review. I love how violence was always present and hovering over these people’s lives, just like the drug, even though we saw little to none of either. I also loved the theme of family running throughout, that the next generation is always sitting and watching, waiting to pick up that banjo and play a song. Best film of the year so far, hands down. (Though, as of yet, I only have Iron Man 2 to compare it to.)
I’m glad you saw it and liked it. Good observation about the violence and drugs. This was really emphasized by the periodic shots of swirling clouds and how we rarely (if ever) saw the sun. The whole time there was a very ominous undercurrent.
Lawrence is generating some serious Oscar buzz for “Winter’s Bone.” So, I’m looking forward to seeing this. (I’m hoping to read the book first.)
I live in Louisville, which happens to be Lawrence’s hometown. Last year, I had the chance to attend Louisville’s International Film Festival. Guillermo Arriaga was there, along with Lawrence, to promote “The Burning Plain.” After the screening, Arriago and Lawrence stayed for some Q&A. Having seen that film and heard her speak, this actress is as talented, charming, intelligent, and hard-working as they come.
So I hope Lawrence’s latest film gets all of the attention it deserves. “Winter’s Bone” received the Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize for Dramatic Film, so hopefully that helps.
I think this’ll be one of those movies that gets loads of Oscar nods, but almost no wins. (Maybe a token Supporting Oscar for Hawkes or Adapted Screenplay.) I hope enough people see it for it to garner real recognition, but I think it came out to early in the season, and will be forgotten about come Oscar time. Again, I really hope I’m wrong about that.
Oh, I definitely think this will be generally ignored, unfortunately. I agree that there could easily be a supporting actor or screenplay Oscar nod. Those have become the “throw them a bone” categories.
Tim, I haven’t seen Jennifer Lawrence in anything else, so I’m glad that she seems as promising as Winter’s Bone indicates. I’m not sure if I’m excited to see The Burning Plain, as I was so utterly disappointed in Babel’s script (sorry, Nate!). I think that Arriaga has been a bit one-note so I’m not totally looking forward to another potentially preachy “everything is connected” plot.
How was it?