Review of Winter's Bone (2010) by Bradysmith — 06 Jun 2014
Winter's Bone is decent. It's well shot, closely directed, and convincingly acted. This might be Jennifer Lawrence's most naturalistic performance. The atmosphere is bleak yet somehow also beautiful.
This is however far from the perfect movie that critics have made it out to be. The story lacks momentum. A good portion of the film is basically just Lawrence going from house to house asking questions to the local yokels.
The film is mostly naturalistic and convincing, but there are some scenes in which the characters feel like stereotypical caricatures. The story's lack of dramatic heft and forward momentum is a crippling flaw.
These are things that thrillers need in order to actually thrill. However, since it is mostly successful with bringing the main characters to life, has some convincing performances, and uses its setting well, I'm still going to recommend it to fans of understated films, as well as independent film fans.
It doesn't reach the greatness though that many claim it does.
This review of Winter's Bone (2010) was written by Bradysmith on 06 Jun 2014.
Winter's Bone has generally received very positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
