Winter's Bone (2010)

Really good thriller/drama. Cast and direction are impressive, the script is round and the depicting of the surroundings is really genuine.

There are some really plausible performances in this quite chilling drama. It's all about "Ree" (Jennifer Lawrence) whose life is turned upside down when her dad uses their mountain-side home as collateral for a bail bond, then promptly skips the scene. "Ree" is left in the lurch, made worse by having to care for her clinically depressed mother and her younger brother and sister. Now she knows that he's mixed up with a local, pretty lucrative, meth lab and so not only might they be facing eviction but with his absconding, what little cash the family did have has dried up too. Luckily, neighbour "Sonya" (Shelley Waggener) chips in to help them out but she's still got to find "Jessup" and that's going to involve dealing with uncle "Teardrop" (John Hawkes) of whom she's pretty terrified. When folks start to think he's dead, or left the state, she finds the clock ticking and the dense Ozark terrain presenting quite a challenge if she is to track him down. It's not the greatest or most original of stories but Lawrence and Hawkes deliver strongly and the gorgeous photography amidst the ancient woodlands - complete with some creative audio effects and a score that does engender some degree of menace - all build to quite a potent climax. It perhaps doesn't show off the finer sides of their rural community as moonshine has clearly been succeeded on the ladder of valuable illicit commodities, and those involved in the manufacture and distribution of this new drug are quite prepared to do what is necessary to keep their supply chain going - with few scruples!