Debra Granik’s “Winter’s Bone” is not exactly unfamiliar territory for a Sundance winner. ‘Bone’ included, the last three films to win Sundance’s Grand Jury prize for a dramatic film (“Precious” and “Frozen River”) have focused on defiant female leads from at least somewhat marginalized backgrounds. Is the festival unfairly picking a favorite type or do these films truly deserve the praise they receive? In the case of ‘Bone,’ Granik presents what is clearly a strong effort on all fronts without ever managing to feel like a truly special achievement.
‘Bone,’ adapted by Granik and co-producer Anne Rossellini from Daniel Woodrell’s novel of the same name, focuses on seventeen year-old Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence, only eighteen at the time of shooting). Ree lives in a small Ozark mountain home in Missouri and must take care of her sick mother as well as her younger brother and sister while surviving on meager resources. Soon enough into the film, the town sheriff (Garret Dillahunt – does this guy show up in everything even remotely “western”?) arrives at Ree’s home to inform that her father Jessup has put up her home as collateral in a bond for a crystal meth charge and has gone missing. With Jessup’s court date imminent, Ree must find her father or else she’ll lose her house.
It’s a pretty simple and straightforward conflict that sets into motion a similarly simple narrative drive: go around town and ask where old Jessup as been. But the structure is a surprisingly effective one – the stark realism (or neorealism as Granik herself labeled it in a Q&A following the film) allows a set of generally gnarly supporting cast to bring Ree’s surrounding Ozark community to life. As Ree goes on attempting to garner any information about her father’s whereabouts, the film takes on an almost suspenseful tone in building a character that, to the audience’s knowledge, may or may not even be alive from the film’s beginnings and is clearly somewhat of a taboo subject around town.
The film’s slow-burning, realistic tone never achieves melodrama or oversentimentality, instead favoring a stark sense of impending distrust and danger from the town’s rather mean bunch of folk. Granik and cinematographer Michael McDonough employ a washed out digital look, favoring contrasts between the films earthy tones and emphasizing the bleak sunlight filtering through the generally tree-filled area. The environment is almost as important as the characters themselves, and while close and medium shots of human subjects are generally preferred, the characters truly feel a part of their surroundings (mostly authentic exteriors and clothing were used).
Introduced early on and taking a larger role as the film goes on, Jessup’s drug-addict brother Teardrop (John Hawkes, “Deadwood,” “Lost”), is the closest the film has to a male lead. Hawkes turns in an extremely strong performance as Ree’s somewhat temperamental uncle – this is a guy who has no problem taking an axe to townsman’s windshield for ostensibly not knowing the information he wants out of him. Teardrop does not support Ree’s efforts at first, but grows to be her greatest supporter in light of Jessup finally not making his court date, giving Ree a week before her home is taken from her. Teardrop’s relationship with his brother is mysterious, as the character seems to keep his emotions close to him, but Hawkes is so affecting that we are never once in disbelief of his relationships, offscreen or otherwise.
Young actress Jennifer Lawrence has also been lauded for her performance as Ree, and rightfully so. The film is almost built upon her role as she appears in nearly every scene. She services the film’s realism quite well, never missing a beat whether being beaten or showing care for her younger siblings. A scene that jumps out in terms of Ree’s characterization is one in which she visits a military recruiting officer in hopes of enrolling to receive $40,000 to support her family. Though Ree may be strong, the scene brings an innocent confusion and naiveté to her, reminding us that, despite her willpower, Ree is still a seventeen year old girl that is only as smart as her relatively small amount of experience will take her.
Though the film is ostensibly a character study on Ree, it is perhaps even more interesting to view the film as a study on the home – both the physical home as well as the community surrounding it. Clearly Ree’s potential loss of her home is a central plot point, but Granik also seems to treat the home as sacred – never revealing too much of an interior while keeping a somewhat voyeuristic, removed camera in these domestic scenes. There are so many meetings and confrontations outside houses and conversations regarding permission of entry into them that the subject is clearly something of a sore subject amongst these characters. Though the Ozark community as a home may be depicted as nasty and uninviting, there are glimmers of relaxation in scenes of Ree’s family time and a bluegrass jam session at a neighbor’s place.
So where does the film fall short? It comes down to the basic story of the film – by the end of ‘Bone,’ despite its intense climactic scene, does Ree’s story really deserve to be told in such detail? Though compelling, the story itself can get rather monotonous and unnecessarily self-important by its end and demands a taste for the realistic human interest story it fundamentally is to begin with. It could be argued that we’ve seen it all before – struggling independent female at stakes to lose everything, and while the claim has some merit, the film is strong enough (but never truly outstanding) in all senses that it generally overcomes any prejudices one may have. The film, while obviously possessing a somewhat heavy subject matter, is also serious to a painful and almost undeserving degree – the only moment of humor or even lack of utter seriousness we see is a simple moment at the film’s end. With enough marketing and increased buzz, expect this one to become an inevitable dark horse indie choice for the year-end award season. [B]