Winter’s Bone (2010)

Directed by Debra Granik. Starring Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Dale Dickey, Lauren Sweetser, Garret Dillahunt, Tate Taylor, Kevin Breznahan, Shelley Waggener, Sheryl Lee, Ronnie Hall, Russell Schalk. [R]

With an incapable mother and absent father, seventeen-year-old Ree (Lawrence), living a tough existence in the Ozarks Mountains, takes care of her young siblings. But when dad skips bail, she’s about to lose the house and land, and is forced to go on a quest to find him, leading to hostile and dangerous encounters with distant relations and local criminals. Harsh but affecting drama pulls the viewer into a world that only those who live inside its walls could fully understand; its use of authentic locations and locals for many of the supporting roles makes the rustic and ruinous landscape a formidable presence. Based on a novel by Daniel Woodrell, the script by director Granik and Anne Rossellini is full of suggestion, things left unsaid as critical as that which is spoken, which causes some unnecessary convolution when it doesn’t pertain to the mystery of the father’s disappearance, but is still a triumph of economical credibility for these characters. In an absorbing performance that put her on the map, Lawrence plays a resilient and resourceful hero for the ages.

85/100