Winter’s Bone **** (2010, Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Garret Dillahunt) – Classic Movie Review 3269

Writer-director Debra Granik scores a triumph with her scalding 2010 American independent feminist thriller, based on Daniel Woodrell’s 2006 novel.

The 20-year-old Jennifer Lawrence sweeps to stardom as a teenage girl in the rural Ozark mountains who sets out to locate her missing father to protect her family from eviction. She plays 17-year-old Ree Dolly, a tough and resourceful little saint who is looking after her destitute family – mentally ill mother, 12-year-old brother Sonny (Isaiah Stone) and six-year-old sister Ashlee (Ashlee Thompson).

Ree’s long-missing father Jessup is out on bail after being arrested for manufacturing methamphetamine. Garret Dillahunt plays Sheriff Baskin, who tells Ree that if her father does not show up for his court date they will lose the house because it was put up as part of his bond. Ree starts looking for her dad with her meth-addicted uncle Teardrop (John Hawkes) and continues on to more distant kin, eventually trying to talk to the local crime boss, Thump Milton (Ronnie Hall).

It won the Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic Film and the Best Screenplay Award at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, two awards at the 2010 Berlin Film Festival and three awards at the 2010 Stockholm International Film Festival, and had four 2011 Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor.

Handled with riveting tension by Granik, with the star giving a knockout performance and the support special, it was very successful for an independent film, earning $6.5million in the US and $7.3million internationally on a $2million budget.

The Winter’s Bone title is explained by an old Appalachian expression: ‘like a dog digging after a winter’s bone’ – someone who will not give up trying.

Lawrence has Oscar nominations for Winter’s Bone (2010), David O Russell’s American Hustle (2013) and David O Russell’s Joy (2015) and won the 2013 Best Actress Oscar for her performance in David O Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook (2012).

She plays Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games (2012), The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014) and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015). 

She plays Raven / Mystique in X-Men: First Class (2011), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and X-Men: Apocalypse (2016).

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3269

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/