Winter’s Bone (Second review)

I tried to watch this when it was new, but I got so depressed after about half an hour that I just had to quit. I mean, who were these horrible people? Did the meth they cook and sell and snort fry their brains, or were they that disgusting all the time? I could not stand watching them as they brutalized poor Jennifer Lawrence. Hillbilly inbreeding, I figured.

After trying it again now and finishing it, I still believe that. There is no excuse for behaving the way they do. It is unforgivable, and don’t tell me that I should give them a break because they are poor, backwoods, ignorant peckerwoods. Screw that. Human decency is the same everywhere, and there was very little of it on display in this story. Which I will not summarize here. Suffice it to say that she is on a quest to find her no-count father who seems to have skipped bail. If she doesn’t find him, she and her little brother and sister will lose their house.

This was Lawrence’s first big starring role, and she nailed it, getting a lot of attention and an Oscar nomination. It’s sort of amazing how she has dominated the awards in just seven years, getting nominated every other year, and winning for Silver Linings Playbook. (And sorry, Jen, but I would have given it to Jessica Chastain for Zero Dark Thirty. Not that you weren’t good.)