I don't agree with the people who get on here and try to tell others not to watch a movie. Most of today's films are just a rehash of some other financially successful similar film, or worst of all -sequels. So many garbage films how can you trust someone who watches a lot of today's movies? I watch few newer films and when I do it is something like 'Winters bone', an original, stark and realistic film shot on location in the Missouri Ozarks.
Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) is a 17 year old who is raising her two younger siblings in the absence of her father, and the debilitating mental illness of her mother. The Ozark mountains in recent decades has experienced an epidemic of meth "cooking" and Winters bone takes us inside an extended family that has become deeply immersed in drugs. Ree's father has been running meth-labs and is in deep trouble with the law and has apparently hit the road...at least that is one possibility, and the sheriff now is telling Ree that if he doesn't show up for a court date Ree and her family will lose their home, which dad had used as collateral to a bondsman.
This is the setup for Rees journey to find her father and keep her family together. Her uncle Teardrop (John Hawkes, perfectly cast) warns her to stay away from the family and their business, but Ree is determined and sets out, mostly on foot, deeper into the hidden crevices of this area that time has left behind. She is fearless and defiant, and Lawrence brilliantly captures the aura of a young woman who has grown up being taught the things that children just are not taught in today's America -not just the hard work like chopping wood, but shooting and hunting and gutting a squirrel, and some touching scenes show her teaching some of these things to her much younger brother and sister. At first I thought she may look a little too clean for the part, her skin too clear, but she quickly grew on me in what is a fully convincing performance.
Winter's bone is much more than the story, this is deeply rooted in the location depicted, and people who love location photography and the lay of the land, a part of America that hasn't changed much in 100 years, will appreciate the visual aspects of this film. I was reminded a little of 'Deliverance' or the little known Walter Hill film 'Southern comfort' when watching Winter's bone. To have seen and enjoyed either of those two films is to understand what to expect from this kind of environment. I love unique settings like this, a nice piece of Americana full of local flavor and I think the filmmakers understood this well as several of the actors were Ozark mountain locals and they add to the ardent realism of the film.
What also shines through is the hope, the hope and strength of this incredible 17 year old woman who faces challenges that contemporary women, for all their talk of "having it all" (career, family. etc), could never handle. That's all she knows -how to survive, against all kinds of odds...it's her bread and butter.
..and to those who would say "don't waste your time on this movie", I would say...don't waste your time trying to be a film critic.
Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) is a 17 year old who is raising her two younger siblings in the absence of her father, and the debilitating mental illness of her mother. The Ozark mountains in recent decades has experienced an epidemic of meth "cooking" and Winters bone takes us inside an extended family that has become deeply immersed in drugs. Ree's father has been running meth-labs and is in deep trouble with the law and has apparently hit the road...at least that is one possibility, and the sheriff now is telling Ree that if he doesn't show up for a court date Ree and her family will lose their home, which dad had used as collateral to a bondsman.
This is the setup for Rees journey to find her father and keep her family together. Her uncle Teardrop (John Hawkes, perfectly cast) warns her to stay away from the family and their business, but Ree is determined and sets out, mostly on foot, deeper into the hidden crevices of this area that time has left behind. She is fearless and defiant, and Lawrence brilliantly captures the aura of a young woman who has grown up being taught the things that children just are not taught in today's America -not just the hard work like chopping wood, but shooting and hunting and gutting a squirrel, and some touching scenes show her teaching some of these things to her much younger brother and sister. At first I thought she may look a little too clean for the part, her skin too clear, but she quickly grew on me in what is a fully convincing performance.
Winter's bone is much more than the story, this is deeply rooted in the location depicted, and people who love location photography and the lay of the land, a part of America that hasn't changed much in 100 years, will appreciate the visual aspects of this film. I was reminded a little of 'Deliverance' or the little known Walter Hill film 'Southern comfort' when watching Winter's bone. To have seen and enjoyed either of those two films is to understand what to expect from this kind of environment. I love unique settings like this, a nice piece of Americana full of local flavor and I think the filmmakers understood this well as several of the actors were Ozark mountain locals and they add to the ardent realism of the film.
What also shines through is the hope, the hope and strength of this incredible 17 year old woman who faces challenges that contemporary women, for all their talk of "having it all" (career, family. etc), could never handle. That's all she knows -how to survive, against all kinds of odds...it's her bread and butter.
..and to those who would say "don't waste your time on this movie", I would say...don't waste your time trying to be a film critic.