
Winter's Bone
2010, Drama, 1h 39m
175 Reviews 50,000+ RatingsWhat to know
critics consensus
Bleak, haunting, and yet still somehow hopeful, Winter's Bone is writer-director Debra Granik's best work yet -- and it boasts an incredible, starmaking performance from Jennifer Lawrence. Read critic reviews
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Movie Info
Cast & Crew
Ree Dolly
Teardrop
Little Arthur
Merab
Sheriff Baskin
April
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Critic Reviews for Winter's Bone
All Critics (175) | Top Critics (52) | Fresh (165) | Rotten (10)
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Debra Granik's bleak little film is as tough, unflinching and fascinating as the characters who eke out a life amid its cold, gray hills.
January 31, 2011 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review… -
A rewarding, richly detailed exploration of the strength of character required when confronted by ugly truths.
November 17, 2010 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review… -
The Coen Brothers' O Brother Where Art Thou? was the last film to make such delirious use of mountain music. The rest of the world can start drooling over Lawrence. I'm gonna git me a copy of that soundtrack.
September 22, 2010 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review… -
The film, adapted by director Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini from the novel by Daniel Woodrell, establishes a formidable tension between mystery and matter-of-factness.
September 17, 2010 | Rating: 5/5 | Full Review… -
There is poetry here -- as artists as diverse as Walker Evans, James Agee and Harry Smith have found -- of the rawest, most desperate kind.
September 16, 2010 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review… -
It is all given unironic dignity and power due to the outstanding lead performance from 20-year-old Jennifer Lawrence as Ree, a young woman who must take on some scary neighbourhood types to protect her family.
September 16, 2010 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…
Audience Reviews for Winter's Bone
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May 29, 2015Somber story that takes place during the cold autumn of the Ozarks as 16-year-old Jennifer Lawrence searches for her missing miscreant father in order to save her home from repossession. She's in almost every scene and thus the film rests solely on her young shoulders, and she has the determination to pull off a positive result for this modest low-key drama.Doctor S Super Reviewer
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Jul 03, 2014A 17 year old girl left to care for her family in dirt-poor rural Alabama goes in search of her absentee father when faced with the choice of either forcing him to appear before the court or losing their home. Winter's Bone, despite its detective story-style premise, has a flavour very much of a frontier western; take away the synthetic fabrics, pick-up trucks, indoor plumbing and narcotics of choice and you have a community whose life has probably remained pretty much unchanged in the last hundred years. It's a portrait of the struggles of living below the poverty line in contemporary rural America as Jennifer Lawrence's destitute but proud heroine explores the underbelly of her tightly knit but deeply dysfunctional extended family. It's a stark, bleak and gritty drama full of characterful and completely believable performances set within a part of contemporary society rarely depicted outside of trailer trash stereotypes. Tense, occasionally frightening and extremely well observed, Winter's Bone is a serious drama that chooses substance over superficial flash and is all the more affecting and disturbing for it.xGary X Super Reviewer
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Dec 10, 2013Though slow and repetitive at times, Winter's Bone is worth seeing for Jennifer Lawrence's raw and stunning performance, but also for the strong direction from Director Granik and the atmospheric cinematography that exudes an almost Aronofosky "Wrestler' vibe which looks great on screen.Matthew Samuel M Super Reviewer
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Jul 10, 2013Debra Garnik became interested in feminism and documentary film-making since her early studies. Independent cinema would be the branch that would allow her to construct her minimalist worlds of suppressive environments, just like Courtney Hunt did two years before with <i>Frozen River</i> (2008). Maybe we are emotionally distant from the characters, yet the situations are not. Both independent films place family bonds at the core and the responsibility of a woman that has to deal with her family in situations out of her control, normally derived from irresponsible actions from others. Debra Garnik does not take a one-sided position against men, like it would seem in the first 20 minutes; rather, each character, be it woman or man, has his/her own intrinsic motivations, predominantly malevolent in the landscapes of Missouri. We need more honest fresh air currents like these once in a while. Definitely, women see some emotional bonds that we men sometimes lack in our vision. 79/100Edgar C Super Reviewer
Winter's Bone Quotes
Teardrop: | Is this gonna be our time? |
Merab: | You was warned. Why didn't you listen? |
Teardrop: | I already told you once with my mouth. |
Ree: | What I really can't stand is the way I feel ashamed... for dad. |
Teardrop: | Well, he loved y'all. That's where he went weak. |
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