Movie Summary of Winter’s Bone by Michael The Moviegoer.
WINTER’S BONE = ***1/2
“Ozark Mountain Devils”
As cold as the title suggests, “Winter’s Bone” is a chilling exercise in suspense from director Debra Granik. This is an indie CGI-less masterpiece. No computer-generated enhancements are needed when you have performances as authentic as those put before Granik’s lens.
Heading this stellar cast of unknowns is the film’s lead Jennifer Lawrence as Ree Dolly. When a local sheriff informs her that her father has jumped bail and failed to show for a court hearing, she is told that he put up their family home as collateral for bail. Now, unless she is able to find her missing father, she and her family will be evicted and forced to live homeless in the backwoods of the Ozark Mountains.
17-year old Ree is caring for her two younger siblings and a mentally ill mother. But now she must reluctantly contact other members of her fractured family in hopes of finding her father. She has a run-in with a psychotic uncle named Teardrop and a brutal grandfather who just might be one of the meanest screen characters to come along since Anton Chigurh in 2007’s “No Country For Old Men”.
The film’s location is so isolated and dead that it becomes a character itself. If all of Missouri looks like this, they should change the spelling to Misery.
“Winter’s Bone” has a menacing intensity running throughout it’s core. I was on the edge of my seat every minute.
DVD Double Feature: Storywise, they share nothing in common. But their titles share a certain chill. “Frozen River” was last year’s little indie that could. And it did. Coming out of nowhere to receive two Oscar nominations including one for lead actress Melissa Leo as a woman from the trailerhood drawn into the dangerous world of border smuggling.
Michael The Moviegoer
