Winter’s Bone (USA)
Based on a novel by Daniel Woodrell, a self-described writer of ‘country noir’, Debra Granik’s second feature film is simply magnificent. Winter’s Bone combines an excellent script, adapted by Granik and Anne Rosellini (who was also a producer), amazing performances and an incredible sense of place.
Set in the Missouri Ozarks in a community of Hillbillies, who make their money through the production of methamphetamines, Winter’s Bone is part- mystery, part family drama. The film’s protagonist, Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) is 17 years old and doing it tough. Her mother isn’t well and she has two younger siblings to look after. When the sheriff (Garret Dillahunt, The Road) turns up and tells her that her drug-cooking father has put their house up for his latest bond and unless he turns up to court later that week her family will lose everything- Ree is pushed into a dangerous course of action.
With massive pressure from her antagonistic extended family to toe the line, Ree has to navigate through social hierarchies and tense family histories, confronting older and meaner members of her community including her uncle Teardrop (John Hawkes, who stared in TV series Deadwood alongside Dillahunt).
Winter’s Bone's success is in part down to the extraordinary job it does in creating a strong sense of place. The Missouri Ozarks doesn’t look like anywhere we’ve ever been to on film before. The texture and details put into developing this drug-addled, rural backwater and making it completely believable, provides a perfect arena for the story to unfold.
The character of Ree Dolly is such a breath of fresh air. Not only is she a capable and strong female lead, she also isn’t a character who plays on her looks instead relying on her wits and bravado. Lawrence’s performance can’t be praised enough, she is remarkable. As is this film, Winter’s Bone is truly something to treasure if you get the chance to see it.
Based on a novel by Daniel Woodrell, a self-described writer of ‘country noir’, Debra Granik’s second feature film is simply magnificent. Winter’s Bone combines an excellent script, adapted by Granik and Anne Rosellini (who was also a producer), amazing performances and an incredible sense of place.
Set in the Missouri Ozarks in a community of Hillbillies, who make their money through the production of methamphetamines, Winter’s Bone is part- mystery, part family drama. The film’s protagonist, Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) is 17 years old and doing it tough. Her mother isn’t well and she has two younger siblings to look after. When the sheriff (Garret Dillahunt, The Road) turns up and tells her that her drug-cooking father has put their house up for his latest bond and unless he turns up to court later that week her family will lose everything- Ree is pushed into a dangerous course of action.
With massive pressure from her antagonistic extended family to toe the line, Ree has to navigate through social hierarchies and tense family histories, confronting older and meaner members of her community including her uncle Teardrop (John Hawkes, who stared in TV series Deadwood alongside Dillahunt).
Winter’s Bone's success is in part down to the extraordinary job it does in creating a strong sense of place. The Missouri Ozarks doesn’t look like anywhere we’ve ever been to on film before. The texture and details put into developing this drug-addled, rural backwater and making it completely believable, provides a perfect arena for the story to unfold.
The character of Ree Dolly is such a breath of fresh air. Not only is she a capable and strong female lead, she also isn’t a character who plays on her looks instead relying on her wits and bravado. Lawrence’s performance can’t be praised enough, she is remarkable. As is this film, Winter’s Bone is truly something to treasure if you get the chance to see it.
