Tara's Indie Pick Flicks

JunMon 2010 Filed in: Tara's Indie Pick Flicks

Winter’s Bone

Directed by: Debra Granik
Starring: Jamey Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes
Now playing: Angelika Film Center New York - 18 West Houston Street, New York, NY
Lincoln Plaza Cinemas - 1886 Broadway, New York, NY

Seventeen-year-old Ree Dolly has a lot on her plate. Her mother has mentally checked out, leaving her to care for her two younger siblings. Adding to her bad luck, she finds out that her drug-dealing father has jumped bail after posting the family home and property as collateral. Ree has a week to find him to ensure he makes his court date and doesn’t leave the family homeless. But finding her elusive father in the meth-ravaged world of the Ozarks proves to be difficult and dangerous. She finds herself coming up against a tight-lipped network of Good Old Boys (and Girls) who try hard to convince her that her father is best left unfound.

As Ree, Lawrence gives a great performance. She is brave and strong in a quiet way that suggests she knows she’s been dealt a bum hand but will do whatever is takes to keep her family together without resentment. There are some definite pitfalls in Winter’s Bone. I found the dialogue at times to be a little too full of southern wisdom, and each character wears one of those animal print shirts you can get at rest stops everywhere at least once. But these are small things, and overall this movie was suspenseful and moving. Check it out.