Winter's Bone

     This was a movie I had never heard of or even would of seen had I watched the trailer. I chose to watch this because Entertainment Weekly named it one of the top movies to watch before Oscar night. After watching it I have to say I can see why it would be on that list.
     The movie is set up in the Ozarks and is centered around a teen girl named Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence), who has a younger brother, younger sister and a sick mother. Her father is a deadbeat drug-dealer that has a court date pending and has set up their house and land for bail. Unfortunately that court date is about to happen and noone know the whereabouts of Ree's father or do they but just won't tell. It's all about Ree following a trail through these deadbeat friends and relatives, in the middle of nowhere to find her father and save their property. While she's off on this social quest, she also has to take care of her kid brother and sisters and check in on her mother.
     I do have this to say about the movie over the storyline, the cinematography was really well done, it really brings out the colors and look of this poor middle-of-nowhere, backwoods area in the middle of winter. There are times though in the story I did get a little lost as to who's who and what's their relationship in all this. Not a long movie as one would think for being an Oscar contender, clocking in at just around one hour and forty minutes. It's hard though to not talk to much about the overall story in this film without giving too much of the plot. The movie does get a little dark at certain times, but never anything too dark to distract from the drama of it all and theres times you'll feel a little banjo playing from 'Deliverance' would fit in. Definitely worth a rental one night when you want to sit down and see a movie, not for laughs or action but to watch a story being told.
     Entertainment Weekly has it as one of their ideas for Oscar nominations in the following categories, Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actress. I would agree with them for every nomination, the only one that I think may win is the Best Actress, Jennifer Lawrence did a phenomenal job in the film. Although I do have the novel it was based, on hold at the library so I'll see how it compares to the movie. If the other Oscar contenders are anything as good it may be a good race to the finish this year, now just to watch the others :).