Winter's Bone (A+)

Winter’s Bone combines rarely seen artistic talent with excellent acting and powerful morals to create a soon-to-be-classic.
The Sundance winning coming-of-age drama is set in the very rural Missouri Ozarks where 17-year-old Ree Dolly has been forced to raise her two young siblings for many years, since her meth-manufacturing father is never around and her mother has been rendered near-comatose by drugs and depression. Trouble comes when the sheriff drops by to inform Ree that her father seems to be jumping bail—bail he paid for with the house Ree relies on for hunting and shelter. Ree sets out to find her father, but must struggle with the spider-web of organized crime throughout her related-by-blood community.
Award-winning indie Director Debra Granik (Down to the Bone) and Cinematographer Michael McDonough reveal the setting and plot with skill, depth, and a great deal of credit to the viewer’s astuteness; using no tricks like quick camera movements or graphic content. The result is one of the most involving films of all time.
Of course this only works because of the perfect acting, which includes John Hawkes (a supporting actor in Me, You, and Everyone We Know) as Ree’s troubled uncle and Dale Dickey (TV’s My Name is Earl) as the powerful wife of the community’s ringleader. Best of all though is Jennifer Lawrence (The Burning Plain), who refrains from any hamming up or departing from the role of Ree. The acting and the character become truly indistinguishable—yet another testament to the film’s well-developed union between performers and director.
Ree looks on her life with wonderment at the tragic and confusing circumstances she is in, but never debates what her role, nor anyone else’s, should be. The community and its deep corruption are bitterly attached, and the film uses this to provide interesting and original insights on responsibility and family. Of course, the films also stands as a stark warning to the dangers of using methamphetamines, and a shocking portrayal of how they affect places rarely shown in the movies. Yet throughout all this, the film manages to be one of the more enlightening pictures I’ve seen in a while.
Haunting, powerful, and eerily inspiring Winter’s Bone is an incredible work of art.