Winter's Bone (2010)

January 21, 2010 (Sundance), June 11, 2010, release date

Directed by Debra Granik

Screenplay by Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini

Based on Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell

Music by Dickon Hinchliffe

Edited by Affonso Gonçalves

Cinematography by Michael McDonough

Jennifer Lawrence as Ree Dolly

John Hawkes as Teardrop Dolly (Ree’s uncle)

Lauren Sweetser as Gail

Garret Dillahunt as Sheriff Baskin

Dale Dickey as Merab

Shelley Waggener as Sonya

Kevin Breznahan as Little Arthur

Ashlee Thompson as Ashlee Dolly (Ree’s younger sister)

Tate Taylor as Satterfield

Sheryl Lee as April

Cody Shiloh Brown as Floyd

Isaiah Stone as Sonny Dolly (Ree’s younger brother)

Distributed by Roadside Attractions

Winter’s Bone may not seem like an obvious choice for neo-noir. It’s nothing like the postwar films and classic noirs shot decades ago. It doesn’t take place in an urban setting, and the characters do not seem particularly sophisticated—until I realized that they are at home in this landscape and know how to get by in it, and I don’t. Winter’s Bone may not be a typical noir film in some respects, but many elements work together to create a sense of dread about Ree Dolly’s search for her missing father.

The commentary on the DVD from the director, Debra Granik, and the cinematographer, Michael McDonough, fill in some details about the film’s production, but it’s not necessary to hear what they have to say about making the film to understand its mood. Filming occurred in winter, and the on-location shooting “looks cold”: no leaves on the trees, cold hard earth. The almost constant gray overcast of an Ozark winter seems to bleed into the rock and dirt that make up the landscape, the local music on the soundtrack emphasizes the fear and uncertainty (“local” meaning from southern Missouri), and the inscrutable code of honor set by the inhabitants is broken when it suits them.

In the middle of Winter’s Bone is a sequence of shots filmed among the trees and woods in the area. The sequence is both majestic and unnerving: The woods are beautiful, but the soundtrack picks up the live wood creaking eerily in the wind. No humans are shown in each shot of the sequence, but the land can be called home only by people who know it well.

Southern Missouri is an area that has its own issues with crime (murder; conspiracy to cover up a crime; the manufacturing, selling, and taking of drugs) and violence. Ree Dolly wants to find out what happened to her father, a meth cooker, because she needs to keep her family’s house and land. The family will lose it all if Ree’s father Jessup doesn’t show up for his court date, and no one seems to know what happened to him.

Ree is alone with huge responsibilities. She is only seventeen, and she is responsible for taking care of her mother (who doesn’t appear to be sane any more) and two younger siblings. Relatives will not help her (because they might have something to hide?). A local code of honor seems to function in the role of fate: Certain outcomes are inevitable if Ree continues to flaunt the code of honor and thus tempt fate. Ree is afraid of many members of her own extended family. They threaten her and then make good on their threats. Various extended family members betray Ree and her immediate family. Their loyalties to her as her near and distant relatives have clear limits, although she is unsure what those limits are at first.

Local people who commit crimes and cover them up are eventually able to put themselves in Ree’s position and to offer help. Knowledge of the terrain and the local customs finally allows Ree to work with some of the other characters so that she can help her mother and her siblings. Ree lies to law enforcement about the help she receives in finding her father: More crimes are committed to keep her and her family on their land.

Like many films noir, especially neo-noir films, Ree and other characters in Winter’s Bone are complicated. They do what they must to survive. Ree may be a teenager, but she is facing an almost crushing weight of responsibilities. She is not an innocent victim and that is made clear practically from the start of the film. Jennifer Lawrence’s portrayal of Ree is one of the best of her career so far, and I found myself rooting for her character from beginning to end.