The Best Movie Critic   +  review

Winter's Bone

Hiya, Ben here. Today I conclude my Oscar catch-up with a look at the last of the ten Best Picture nominees I had yet to see, Winter’s Bone.

17-year-old Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) raises her two younger siblings and takes care of her mentally vacant, medicated mother by herself in a dilapidated house – almost shed – in the middle of redneck nowhere. The local Sheriff warns Ree that her absent, meth-cooking dad put the family house and property up for his bond. Ree has 10 days to find her dad and convince him to show up for court, or else she and her siblings are shit outta luck, out on the street with nowhere to go. Ree’s search pits her against a cast of very colorful characters. We’re all familiar with the stereotype of the vaguely creepy, stony faced and unhelpful redneck, but Winter’s Bone gives these suspicious people story and motivation.

Winter’s Bone is that rare kind of movie that can be appreciated by difference audiences for very different reasons. The family drama and subdued, pensive atmosphere is sure to please the indie crowd. Throwing the basic story frame of a film noir on top of that goes a long way toward roping in classic Hollywood buffs like me. Hell, I think even my mom would like this movie because the Ozark ambiance is so haunting and feels so, well, authentic. This is a real bang up, no-seams-showing, sticks-with-you kind of production.

I was immediately struck by how much Winter's Bone's cinematography reminded me of Blue Valentine. Those of you keeping score may remember my extreme dislike for that movie, and that the look went a long way towards turning me off to it. The bleak washed out palate and hyper-realism were too on the nose in that movie, but in Winter's Bone that strategy works to ground the mythic, iconic story structure. Furthermore, what is being filmed in Winter's Bone is just so much more engaging.

Ree's series of inquisitions and shakedown remind me quite a bit of The Long Goodbye. I don't think it's hard to justify viewing Winter's Bone through a film noir lens. Ree is the Bogart-esque detective, bringing the heat down on the usually suspects, getting beat up more often than not in the process. However, the detective frame plays out subtly and naturally. There is no wink to the audience that this is a riff. Winter's Bone is not Brick, which wore it's influences on its sleeve. Who can forget the scene when the vice principle grills Joseph Gordon-Levitt in parody of the way a police captain would grill the detective in a more straight-shooting noir? Winter's Bone, on the other hand, only resembles a noir when it makes sense for it to. Ree occupies the detective role begrudgingly. She would not be doing this if the future of her family wasn’t at stake. Over the course of the movie, she collects a rogue’s gallery to rival The Maltese Falcon, Kiss Me Deadly, or The Big Lebowski, but they fit the landscape so naturally it never feels forced.

Don’t let the fact that I couldn’t point to the Ozarks on a map keep you from believing me when I tell you that director Debra Granik and her cast and crew really nail the feel of this place. Its little things, like the Walmart body types that populate the corners of the frame, the wolf painting t-shirts, the omnipresence of ROTC and military recruiters, and the way Ree waits for the man of the house to ask her to enter. The quality and variety of rural, backwoods faces collected in Winter’s Bone is on par with the best the Coens, Juneau, or Murnau ever threw on the screen. Casting directors Kerry Barden and Paul Schnee deserve an Oscar, and if there isn’t a casting director category, they should invent one for this movie.

Winter's Bone comes down to one headstrong girl in a totally impossible situation, and relative newcomer Jennifer Lawrence's performance is brimming with fire and pathos in equal measure. Ree does not have the skill set to tackle the issues that are dumped in her lap. She doubts herself, she fucks up, but she doesn't have the luxury to give up. She powers through.
-Ben