Review of Winter's Bone (2010) by Kel S — 14 Apr 2012

Winter's Bone tells a bleak tale of family tragedy in backwoods America. A young teenager Ree Dolly must wade through a hostile social environment in search of his meth cooking father.

The story of Winter's Bone is inspiring in its utter plainness. It feels that the director Debra Granik really grasps the essence of hillbilly America with its hostile flannel wearing locals and depressingly obvious economic regression. With the credible setting, it is crucial that as a character driven film the main actor succeeds. Thankfully Jennifer Lawrence puts up a convincing role as a daring youngster Ree Dolly who relentlessly pursues his missing father against all the odds. Even with its utterly simple story, the script is put together with skill and in such manner that despite its obvious lack of content, the 1h 40min running never feels dragging and is interesting through the whole running time.

Make no mistake Winter's Bone is bleak and depressing to the bone and as such cannot be considered very entertaining experience. However what it offers is a realistic insight to remote way of life in backwoods America. No doubt the film appeals more to the American viewers who can relate to the topic more easily than outsiders, but even so Winter's Bone is an interesting encounter.