This is not a happy film. It was filmed, on location in the Missouri Ozark's and therefore has been typically described as an Ozark noir. Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) is an impoverished 17 year-old raising her two young siblings herself. Her mother is described as "sick" but appears to live in the house and not do much or say anything. Her father is a meth cooker and has disappeared yet again. This seems like a good thing, except at the beginning of the film a sheriff tells Ree that his court date is in a few days and he put the house up as part of his bail. If he doesn't show, they'll lose the house. Instant plot.
So Ree has to find her dad. Fortunately she has a bunch of relatives in the area she can ask. Unfortunately she'd rather stay away from all of them. I remember hearing an NPR interview with novelist Daniel Woodrell and the director and co-writter Debra Granik. Woodrell talked about the effect of meth on the area, how it generated a lot of violence and made people very unpredictable. Ree approaches a lot of these people, none of them want her too.
The result is a suspenseful film that's a study of both the main character and the region. With just a $2 million budget, everything in this film is interesting. Lawrence's performance is the best I've seen this year. She plays a young woman with few, well practically no options, a huge heart, and lots of determination and desperation. Her brother and sister are "too young to feed themselves" but she takes care of them and teaches them to make potato soup and shoot a rifle and dress a squirrel. That scene is not for the squeamish but contains one of my favorite lines: "Do we eat these parts?", "Not yet". She teaches them "Never ask for what ought to be offered" and in spite of the burden she says "I'd be lost without the weight of the two of you on my back".
The other actors are all excellent. Most of the men are arbitrarily stubborn and capriciously violent. The women seem to cover all the stages of PTSD. Basically everyone is an asshole and no one knows how to communicate. Two actors stand out. John Hawkes (Lost's Lennon and Deadwood's Saul) plays Ree's uncle Teardrop and Dale Dickey plays Merab the wife of someone important in the meth world. Both are short tempered and violent people. Both also have the opportunity to show some depth. Teardrop shouting at his wife, "I already told you once with my mouth" is actually an act of kindness. Merab nails the equality of this society by asking Ree, "Ain't you got no men to do this?"
The characters are interesting and well acted and the story is compelling. Winter's Bone goes further than most films in describing a place in a particular time that's unfamiliar and unsettling (and apparently accurate). This town wouldn't be welcoming to strangers, it's not even welcoming to family, so exploring it is interesting. The plaid flannel and winter coats and hats and gloves and broken cars in the yards all set one stage. The high school however was in surprising great shape and offered practical extra curricular activities in parenting and ROTC drills. As Ree looked through the windows at these she was looking into her possible futures.
This is currently my second favorite film of the year (next to Inception). It's not happy but it's very well made. I think it's closest to Frozen River though I've seen a lot of comparisons to Brick which I don't really see. I've also seen comparisons to Deliverance and even The Wizard of Oz but those seem more superficial. I hope it's remembered come Oscar time, particularly Jennifer Lawrence, so far this year I don't think anyone else comes close to her performance.
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