Review of Winter's Bone (2010) by Shikasta — 20 Feb 2011

"He ain't here.".

"He ain't anywhere.".

"He's somewhere.".

This stirring interaction between Ree (Jennifer Lawrence) and her uncle Teardrop (John Hawkes) transpires as they search a graveyard for evidence of the body of Ree's missing father. Winter's Bone is not a film one would call rich with dialogue. Set as it is in the poverty of the rural Ozarks, there isn't much call for verbose discourse. Unfortunately, the movie fails to offer much by way of compensation.

Winter's Bone is ultimately a bore. Ree must find her father (or evidence of his death) in order to save her home and keep her family together. While I sympathize with her plight, I cannot muster up any enthusiasm so as to concern myself with the outcome of her quest.

You see, it seems that Ree's father probably crossed the wrong people and got himself killed. The mystery of his disappearance purports to be at the centre of this story. The problem is that the success of any mystery is contingent on having at least a modicum of interest in seeing it resolved. Winter's Bone contains a motley assembly of rednecks who probably killed Ree's dad. But who cares? It's not like this is a complex organized crime syndicate that Ree endeavours to bring down. We're talking about a bunch of toothless hillbillies whose reluctance to lead Ree to the body is likely only because they can't remember where they stashed it.

Jennifer Lawrence's performance as Ree is good, but it is not ground-breaking. Her character spends most of the movie wandering around in something of a daze. Director Debra Granik does a reasonably good job of maintaining an atmosphere of brooding menace, but she does not explore anything more than the superficial. This couldn't be more clear than in the macabre climax to Winter's Bone. This scene, in which Ree discovers her father's corpse, merely underlines the literally shallow depth at which most of the film operates.

The film concludes with a shivering Ree seated with her younger siblings on the front steps of the shack she has managed to save. "I ain't going anywhere," she reassures the kids. Unfortunately, there is nothing self-conscious in this scene. In this line, Ree articulates what should have been at the foundation of Winter's Bone. That, despite the successfully concluded digression into the mystery of her father's disappearance, Ree's life will remain one of abject poverty and struggle. Winter's Bone has nothing to say about this reality. I simply can't explain this profound disinterest in its own characters.