What I Watched -- Winter's Bone

Last night, K and I were lucky enough to snag seats at the St. Louis International Film Festival's showing of Winter's Bone at Washington University.

About this movie: the acting is amazing, and the story is horrifying. Relative newcomer Jennifer Lawrence stuns as Ree Dolly, a 17-year-old abandoned by her dad and trying to rear her two younger siblings while also caring for her mentally ill mother. The sheriff comes to see Ree, and gives her some bad news: Jessup (her dad) put up their house and land for his bond, and he's disappeared. If he doesn't show up for his next court date, Ree and her family will be kicked off the only thing they own - a small piece of land in Missouri's Ozark Mountains.

In an effort to save her house, Ree goes looking for Jessup, who's in trouble with the law for cooking meth. She seeks out members of her extended family - her "kin," as she repeatedly calls them, in a none-too-subtle effort to get them to help her - only to discover that none of them are any too eager to do so. After a little more digging does she discover why: they're all tied up in Jessup's mess, and Ree's questions might land them all in a whole heap of trouble.

The cover photo makes Jennifer Lawrence looks a little bit like Cate Blanchett, but her real face in the movie is much younger, and much more knowing. While being endlessly frustrated by her kin's unwillingness to help her, and despite understanding why they don't, she never stops hoping that they will. And she manages to find compassion in some of them, although usually in small doses and in unexpected ways. But sometimes she finds just the opposite, and that doesn't work out well for her.

The cast is almost all total or relative newcomers, including the kids who play Ree's younger brother and sister. There are four exceptions - people you might know - and only one of those has a major role in the movie: John Hawkes, who plays Teardrop, Jessup's older brother; Dale Dickey, who plays the cruel but understanding Merab Milton, and whom you'll recognize but probably won't know why; Garret Dillahunt, who plays Sheriff Baskin; and Sheryl Lee, the most famous of the bunch, who has a bit part as as Jessup's one-time lover.

Marideth Sisco, who does vocals on the soundtrack and appears in one scene in the film, was present at the screening last night. She shared a few insights, including this: the girl who plays Ree's sister actually lives in the house that they use as the Dolly home in the movie. That's her house! The filmmakers tried to make the movie real, to capture what life is like when you're just trying to survive in a forgotten part of the country. They did a great job, but they couldn't have done it without Jennifer Lawrence.

Bottom line: see it, but be prepared.