On the surface, Winter’s Bone has a lot going for it. The performances are strong, the characters are interesting, and the setting is grim, stark, and compelling, yet the movie left me cold. It’s bleak and depressing, and after a while, quite boring. The fine acting deserves a mention though. Jennifer Lawrence is excellent as the lead Rae Dolly, a 17 year old living in extreme poverty in the rural Ozark Mountains. Her Dad has skipped on his bail and now the family home is up for grabs unless her father can be tracked down.

Winter’s Bone follows Rae as she struggles to uncover the truth about her father, take care of her younger siblings, and save the family house. Everywhere she turns instead of the help she needs, she gets threats and violence. Winter’s Bone is a well-meaning movie meant to show the struggles of the under-class in America, but it never connects with the viewer. The movie feels both padded and undercooked. Like Frozen River (another left-leaning tale of poverty and struggle), Winter’s Bone was a big winner at the Sundance Film Festival. David Gordon Green’s movie George Washington is a look at poverty through the eyes of young Black children and that movie is much better than Winter’s Bone. George Washington is available on DVD through Criterion and is a must-see.

Winter’s Bone has some nice extra features including a making of featurette that does reveal a startling degree of authenticity along with a commentary and some deleted scenes.

Winter’s Bone is an odd case. It’s well-crafted and interesting but still feels remote and often just downright dull and boring. Even at 100 minutes, the movie feels overlong and though the lead performance of actress Jennifer Lawrence is amazing, Winter’s Bone is just one more well-intentioned independent flick that is easily forgotten minutes after being viewed.

GRADE: C

• Tweet