Winter's Bone

The Flick: Winter's Bone

The Talent: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes (AKA 'Bugsy' in The Perfect Storm), Sheryl Lee, etc.

The Dealio: The Dollys are going to lose the dilapidated property that passes for the old homestead if their daddy- a suspected meth cooker- skips bail. Mom is in a numbed state similar to Alison Janney's pin-point sharp rendering in American Beauty. Daddy is part of an extended, very complex family of meth cookers who will do anything to keep their bidnez under wraps. Ree Dolly, 17 years old and imbued with an astounding sense of responsibility and dedication to her mom and younger brother and sister, sets out to find her daddy and bring him back to face the music. It is the old story of saving the family home, against insurmountable odds, when everything turns to slumgullion.

The Grading Session: 4.78 pengies out of 5. Much higher than I would ordinarily give a movie that had me alternately hiding my eyes and clenching my jaw throughout the bulk of the show. Most of this was due to the phenomenal work of Jennifer Lawrence. A newish find, Lawrence pulls you firmly into her camp right from the git go, and never lets you believe that she will ever fail in anything she attempts.
This entire movie was a study in atmosphere and, as such, builds on the initial portrayal of poverty, vague dread and unease, until, every time you see a female with a hatchet-face and a cup of coffee, your innards begin to jello-ise. BTW- are all of the females over the age of 30 related in this deal? Now that was some scary stuff.
In addition, tremendous job on the part of John Hawkes ('Teardrop'), a loser trying to overcome his past in order to do the right thing by his immediate family...but scared that doing the right thing may spell his doom.
Was trapped in the theatre with a gent of a certain age who felt duty-bound to engage me in a touch of pre-show chitchat. We were the only two in the theatre at the time, and, I guess he was feel wigged out at the prospect of watching the film with one other person who happened to be a female. He was pulsing me on several movies he had enjoyed in the recent past, and the common theme was, in his words, 'extreme violence'. Apparently a major mandatory component for him. I almost literally sighed with relief when a group of seniors (hey! wait! I am now a senior!) walked in and began discussing the merits of Rubio's fish taco versus Point Loma Seafood's smoked fish sandie for after the show. Talk about your hig-grade palate cleanser.

Lessons Learned: Beware of females with hatchet-faces, bearing cups of coffee...and chainsaws. No good can come of this. Also this one: meth-cookers, as a rule, would rather kill you day-ad, regardless of your age or gender, than speak to someone outside their circle. And lastly: the aforementioned meth cookers always seem to keep a heck of a lot of dawgs. No cats, but a pant-load of doggage. Discuss among yourselves.