Winter's Bone

2010 redneck Godfather

Rating: 16/20 (Jen: 16/20)

Plot: Seventeen year-old Dee Rolly (or maybe it's Ree Dolly) works hard to keep her dysfunctional family afloat while her meth-dealing father runs from the law and her mentally-troubled mother rocks in a rocking chair. She gets her younger siblings fed and off to school and completes more than her share of chores to make the family's poor property the happiest home it can possibly be. Unfortunately, the sheriff informs her that Daddy had used the property for collateral for his bail and that they'll lose it if he fails to show up for his court date. She starts investigating, desperately trying to get answers from family and neighbors. Her inquiries are met with animosity as the court date rapidly approaches. Won't somebody be able to lend her a hand?

There's really nothing complicated about this story except the motivations and behavior of Dee (or Ree's) uncles, grandfathers, cousins, ect. are so different from what most people would consider normal. The story starts in medias res, and the character development, aside from the heroine Ree (or Dee), comes in snippets. But you catch on quickly that the peripheral characters don't matter so much, even though her Uncle Teardrop is a very complex and interesting fellow. This is all about Dee (or Ree) and a kind of journey. She wanders nearly hopelessly through labyrinths of dead trees and frozen air, and the conflict isn't as much a Ree (Dee?) vs. other characters but Dee (Ree?) vs. prevailing moods. It doesn't take long for us to figure out that our protagonist is up against a wall of apathy and hostility. She's heroic in a lot of quiet ways. She goes about her busy stoically, stubbornly, and selflessly; there's no extrinsic value in anything she does. The story itself is just as quiet as her action. Even the high points are subdued, and you almost just want to shrug off the two worst things that happen to Dee (or is it Ree?) because that journey she's on just seems to demand that those things happen. I thought the acting was uneven, ranging from those whose performances felt a bit too polished to those who gave striking portrayals of hill folk that gave parts of this an almost documentary realism. With the latter, there's a lot boiling below the surface, all kinds of dashed dreams and troubles festering just below the surface of their skin. They've got great names, too. I wish I could go back in time and name my son Teardrop.

Another Cory recommendation.