Winter's Bone: A Chilly Mystery Blows in the Ozarks

Overall Rating = 4.5 Out of 5 Stars

When Jessup fails to show for his court date, Ree ratchets up her search to solve the mystery surrounding her father’s disappearance. Ree’s persistence raises the ire of several of her own drug-affiliated family members and their associates who intimidate her and threaten her bodily harm or worse if she stirs up any further trouble. Tear Drop (John Hawkes), Jessup’s brother, suggests to her niece that her father may have been killed. Nonetheless, if Ree is unable to discover the truth, she and her family will lose their home and be turned out into the cold wilderness. Winter’s Bone was written by Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini, and based on the book of the same name.

Winter’s Bone is an ambling mystery that is set in an unforgiving country and features a cast of unforgiving and sometimes ominous characters. Seventeen-year old Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) manages the household as primary caregiver of her young brother and sister and her mentally incapacitated mother. Living in a poor rural Ozark community, the family ekes out a minimal existence, relying on the yield of the land and the kindness of kinfolk. Ree learns from a visit from the Sheriff Baskin (Garrett Dillahunt) that her father Jessup, a known crystal-meth manufacturer, has put up the family’s house and the surrounding property for bail collateral. Sheriff Baskin informs Ree that in her father fails to show for his court hearing, the property will be forfeited to cover the bail bond.

Granik, who also directs Winter’s Bone, successfully evokes the sparse, uncompromising chilly landscape that is so integral to the atmosphere of this mystery. Jennifer Lawrence, who is only several years older than the teenage character she portrays, plays world-weary Ree with a smartness and ease that belies her young years. John Hawkes as Tear Drop is menacing and unpredictable. Ronnie Hall as family patriarch Thump Milton, Shelley Waggener as Sonya, Lauren Sweetser as Gail, and the casting of some locals, including William White as Blonde Milton, bring an authenticity to the story’s characters.

Winter's Bone has garnered several well-deserved awards. The movie's resolution is chilling but satisfying. This bleak winter mystery blows a mean, frigid wind which earns Winter’s Bone 4.5 out of 5 stars.