Winter's Bone

If you don't know the name Jennifer Lawrence then start to get use to it. Here is simply put, a star making performance. She plays the lead in Winter's Bone, an independent film that won both Best Picture and Best Screenplay at this years Sundance Film Festival. Lawrence plays a young 17 year old girl from a from a dead end mid-western town forced to take care of her two younger siblings and sick mother after her father decides to go on the run from the law for cooking meth. Eventually a trial date comes around for a previous arrest of her father's and Lawerence finds out suddenly that he had previously put up the family house to make bail. If he doesn't show to court then they lose the house. What follows is a man hunt by Lawrence to find her father so that her family can continue to just barely get by at below poverty level. The alternative choice to that is really not a choice at all. She starts by coaming through her family relatives most of whom happen to be fellow criminals who are not at all eager to talk to her. An uncle played by the always wonderful John Hawkes is particularly great. As the story unfolds certain details surface that put the whole mission of finding her father into a different context.
At the heart of the story though is the question of what it means to be a family and does being a blood relative to someone really mean anything. Lawrence as the female heroine reminds me of a young Hilary Swank. She plays the role with the utmost confidence and vulnerability that may be the strongest performance so far this year. The film has an on edge quality to it where you never feel completely comfortable for the characters safety. As we follow Lawrence's treacherous journey through the underbelly of american decay we quickly realize that here is a person who will stop at nothing to do good for her family, even if that means putting her own life at risk. The acting all around is excellent, especially John Hawkes . The screenplay is unique in it's setting and characters and the film as whole is something I can't wait to revisit again. This is one of the best films of the year.

A-

2010