Another dark and cloudy film at the festival, Winter's Bone was an interesting, but satisfying end to Sundance. Depicting a struggling and uneducated 17-year-old raising her two younger siblings in the stead of her traumatized and over-medicated mother, Ree goes in search of her meth-cooking, parole-breaking father so that their house won't be repossessed. The film shows hopelessness and despair as she wades through the clan-style social system that dominates the southern Ozarks, bringing up issues of independence, male dominance, and familial support. Jennifer Lawrence performs brilliantly in her first major role, showing a character with everything at stake, taking unimaginable risks simply to protect those few things she has to hold on to. Portraying the closed social structure as the main antagonist of this film, Winter's Bone wanders its way to an absolutely gripping and unexpected conclusion, typifying the dirt and grit portrayed in the rest of the film. Perfectly executed and entirely thought-provoking, this film won the Sundance Best Film under the U.S. Dramatic competition, and I certainly wouldn't disagree with that distinction.
In attendance: Director Debra Granik
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1/29/2010
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