WINTER'S BONE

posted these comments in bits and pieces in another thread several months ago. always meant to assemble them here, so...

this is one of the best recent american genre films i've seen. winter's bone aims primarily to capture and, in a way, to honor, focusing on the details that characterize a way of life - and on the sorts of lives that might be lived within that characterization. the film's strength is largely dependent on place and texture, on careful observation more than wild imagination, and for that reason it might not appeal to viewers who demand sleeker and more aggressive thrills.

winter's bone builds its central mystery up from a good documentarian's directness and self-effacement, and i liked the relationship between that approach and the more genre-bound mystery plotting. i loved this movie for its richness, humanism and empathic integrity. i loved too its evocation of the bonds that entwine families and communities, both strong and weak, clear and subtle, the way such bonds both define and contend with our sense of moral obligation. the deliberately rough, pseudo-documentary style might seem superficially flat, but the film's off-the-cuff naturalism allows for an offhand beauty that never feels self-indulgent or showy.

we don't necessarily expect an unusual depth & subtlety of character & theme in a mystery story, or a strikingly personal relationship with place & culture, but that's what i felt i got here. i liked the things this film chooses to pay attention to and the way it pays attention to them. it contrasts the poignancy and fragility of domestic affection - the foolish bubble of innocence and joy we try to build around our families - with the fundamental threat and uncaringness of the larger world in which family exists. i liked that and feel that i don't see it explored anywhere near enough in american cinema. i liked, too, the way winter's bone balances its empathic streak with a hard-eyed look at the sacrifices that this sort of domestic maintenance can require.

this is on netflix instant! its pretty good!

Just finished it. Wow, i fucking loved this movie. Cried like 5 times but then I'm weak that way. Must find book.

i was also thrown by a lot of music that i think of as appalachian ("farther along", "high on a mountain") but i guess hillbilly country extends farther than i'd imagined.

No, my family all come from the South Dakota prairie and my mom and her sibs sing most of these same songs when they get together.

yeah gonna rewatch this in netflix. there's another on there as well by the same director, 'down to the bone'

its "funny," for a drug plague that is reportedly pretty devastating it doesnt seem like there are a lot of meth movies out there. this and breaking bad and...? or am i just not paying attention to the burgeoning meth movie scene

Loved this film, incredibly atmospheric and A+ performances all round.

>Must find book.

My wife bought me the book as a gift, inspired by my raving about the film. It's superb, totally recommend it.

i liked 'down to the bone', the portrayal of heroin addiction here isn't ott like in most films, so it ends up evoking more empathy than gross-out. and vera farmiga is hot.

its "funny," for a drug plague that is reportedly pretty devastating it doesnt seem like there are a lot of meth movies out there. this and breaking bad and...? or am i just not paying attention to the burgeoning meth movie scene

Well, there's Spun and...yeah. Meth's not a sexy or funny drug.

neither is crack, though

i mean youd at least think thered be movies about meth _gangs_ or something

i liked 'down to the bone', the portrayal of heroin addiction here isn't ott like in most films, so it ends up evoking more empathy than gross-out. and vera farmiga is hot.

i think i remember finding post-OD mia wallace uma thurman v attractive in pulp fiction, & am glad that vera farmiga apparently maintained being v attractive even throughout her character's addiction arc in this movie

this movie is a mess structurally and its depiction of poor rural arkansas is pretty ridic. C-

i liked this line from A.S. Hamrah: "In Winter’s Bone, people are poor and dangerous, which is to say they have dignity."

it's rural Missouri, but just across the line from AR.

ozarks whatever

pfft whatever D+

p.s. you're a mess structurally!

:]

so when she gives the hands to the sheriff she says someone dumped them on her porch. why didn't they actually do that? i mean do they just make her fish him out to fuck with her? i feel like i'm missing a plot point here.

they make her fish him out to fuck with her

they didn't give a shit about her losing her home (iirc that was why she needed the body?) - probably couldn't be bothered

feel like this could've been more visually interesting with mise-en-scene and stuff. most of the time it was kind of uninteresting visually, then there were some really incredible shots that underscored how boring the rest was.

the scene where she's at the - idk slaughterhouse? and running across the beams after the guy: i often find myself remembering it

Debra Granik's new film at Sundance

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/5309-the-daily-sundance-2018-debra-granik-s-leave-no-trace