winter's bone

i went and saw winter's bone last night. it's about this girl in the missouri ozarks whose absentee father has left her to care for her two younger siblings and mentally ill mother. the story begins right after the father gets busted for cooking meth, puts the family house up for bond, and then fails to show up for court. the movie's essentially about the girl turning private detective and getting deep into ozark meth country/culture to try and find her dad and save her home from the bond company.

winter's bone has long, meditative shots of: little white trash kids playing on a ratty trampoline; a forlorn, forgotten rocking horse with icicles hanging off it; a sweet squirrel-skinning scene; and characters who say stuff like, "don't never ask for what should be offered." as you might expect, the critics came in their collective pants--it's got a "90" on metacritic. to a.o. scott, a movie like this is a travelogue where the characters' stupidity and desperation is ascribed a profundity that just isn't there in real life. one of the lone dissenting critics aptly described it as "southern-poverty porn." i think it's sort of like hillbilly minstrelsy.

i will say, though,that the actress who plays the girl does a really good job. her name's jennifer lawrence. here are some not very ozarkian pics of her: http://www.esquire.com/women/women-we-love/jennifer-lawrence-photos-0610. hubba-hubba! i'm sure she had to get a dialect coach to learn how to talk dumb. she's playing "mystique" in the next x-men movie.

john hawkes is also in this, and he's good, too. he was sol starr in "deadwood." have any of you guys ever watched deadwood? i like it almost as much as the wire.

so, winter's bone is not as good as advertised. it's not as horrible as crazy heart, but you can wait for the dvd. in the meantime, go see inception!