Winter’s Bone

An intense story and great performance by lead actress Jennifer Lawrence make this Debra Granik sophomore film absolutely must be seen for those that appreciate rare American indie films that transcend the indie standards and take you in a visual and narrative voyage that will delight your senses even when story is not necessarily a pleasant one. In a sense, this indie film made me recall the huge and positive surprise with Frozen River and if you enjoyed this film I’m sure you will enjoy Granik’s film too.

Film tells about a seventeen-years-old girl that is forced to look for her father after learning that if he does not appear in court she will lose her house and land that father posted as part of bail. Her search becomes an intense personal voyage into the darkish side of living in an American poor rural area as is set in the Ozarks where moonshine, pot, methamphetamine and OxyContin put inhabitants in the wrong side of the law. Kudos to Granik and Anne Rosellini for a great screenplay based on Daniel Woodrell novel as what could have been a told-many-times story becomes anew in this film.

But it’s Jennifer Lawrence performance what makes this film out-of-the-ordinary and makes this film her film; just to watch Lawrence’s performance the film is more than worth watching so the icing in the cake comes from the well developed story and quite nice visual narrative. Lawrence been getting Oscar buzz and if she gets a nomination will be more than well-deserved as she is really good here.

Film won Grand Jury Prize and Screening Award at 2010 Sundance fest plus the CICAE Award and Tagesspiegel Reader Award at the 2010 Berlinale and don’t doubt that will get more honors during the current award season, starting with the many nominations at the Gotham Independent Film awards, probably followed by the Spirit Awards and surely Oscar that now has 10 slots for Best Film. But this year has been so good for American indie films that races in different awards will be tight.

I liked the film a lot more than I imagined as watch it like in one very long sigh with my eyes glued to the screen all the time. Very intense. Absolutely must be seen for many that read this blog and enjoy strong women stories, but also to those that like very rare but excellent American indie cinema.

Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @MOC