"Winter's Bone" - REVIEW

My disappointment for the weekend continued last night with Debra Granik's (curiously) acclaimed Sundance hit Winter's Bone. The definition of a bare-bones type film, Granik spends forever stuck in first gear, and never ends up going anywhere. Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence), who lives somewhere in the Ozarks, quickly learns that her father is due in court, and if he does not show, the Dolly family could be out of a home. This is bad news for Ree, who at 17 is left to take care of her mentally ill mother and younger siblings. While Granik starts the film off just fine with scenes that do a nice, understated job of depicting the harshness of a world where life doesn't mean all that much, she forgets that her story actually has to, well, go somewhere. Winter's Bone is supposed to be a mystery, but by the time that nearly an hour out of 1 hr 40 min has passed, all that Ree has really done is try and find a first lead to try and track down her dad. And while the editing for those first 45-60 minutes is remarkable, it becomes slightly frustrating, even as more significant events take place, because there's never a feeling of growth in the story; we start in square one, and never for an instant move past it, resulting in a somewhat misshapen story. The film also makes the mistake of revealing a potential outcome too early on, only to have it come completely true without ever presenting alternatives, rendering the whole thing slightly aimless. Out of the cast, there's been much buzz about star Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes (as Ree's surly uncle), and while Lawrence is nice, it's hardly worthy of the awards attention that some are clamoring for. She's at her best when understated and tough, but has a few moments where there are hints that she's trying to add the slightest touch of theatricality to her delivery, and it doesn't work. Hawkes on the other hand, is totally mystifying. As uncle Teardrop, Hawkes is stuck in a one-note role that requires him to do little other than glower and speak in a gravely "serious" voice. It's a shame that Granik, who is perhaps best known for giving Vera Farmiga her indie-breakout role in Down to the Bone, didn't take the risk and raise the stakes of Ree's investigation. Whether from personal experience or simply hands-on research, Granik certainly captures the toughness of the Ozarks, but she fails to inject them with the ingredients for an engrossing story, as sparse as it is, rendering the more intense moments only mildly engaging at best. While its central character may be a tough-but-likable character, Granik's film doesn't have enough (beware the awful pun) meat on its bones to weave a tale that's actually engrossing.

Grade: B-