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''Winter's Bone'' is a 2010 American
coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...
drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...
directed by Debra Granik. It was adapted by Granik and Anne Rosellini from the 2006 novel by Daniel Woodrell. The film stars
Jennifer Lawrence Jennifer Shrader Lawrence (born August 15, 1990) is an American actress and producer. She is known for starring in both action film franchises and independent dramas, and her films have grossed over $6 billion worldwide. The List of high ...
as a poverty-stricken teenage girl named Ree Dolly in the rural
Ozarks The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, as well as a small area in the southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover ...
of
Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
who must locate her missing father to save her family from homelessness. ''Winter's Bone'' received critical acclaim upon release, with high praise directed towards Lawrence's performance. The film also emerged as a commercial success at the box-office, earning $16.1 million on a budget of $2 million. The film won several awards, including the Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic Film at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. It received four
Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...
nominations at the 83rd Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress in a Leading Role for Lawrence (who at 20 was the second-youngest Best Actress nominee at the time), and Best Supporting Actor for John Hawkes. In addition, Lawrence was nominated for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama and Outstanding Leading Actress at the 68th Golden Globe Awards and 17th Screen Actors Guild Awards, respectively.


Plot

In the rural
Ozarks The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, as well as a small area in the southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover ...
of
Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
, seventeen-year-old Ree Dolly looks after her mentally ill mother, Connie, twelve-year-old brother Sonny, and six-year-old sister Ashlee. She makes sure her siblings eat and teaches them survival skills such as hunting and cooking. The family is destitute. Ree's father, Jessup, has not been home for a long time; his whereabouts are unknown. He is out on bail following an arrest for manufacturing meth. Sheriff Baskin tells Ree that if her father does not appear for his court date, they will lose the house because it was put up as part of his bond. Ree sets out to find her father. She starts with her meth-addicted uncle Teardrop and continues to more distant kin, eventually trying to talk to the local
crime boss A crime boss, also known as a crime lord, mafia don, mob boss, kingpin, or godfather is the leader of a criminal organization. Description A crime boss has absolute or nearly absolute control over the other members of the organization and is ...
, Thump Milton. Milton refuses to see her; the only information Ree comes up with are warnings to leave the situation alone and stories that Jessup died in a meth lab fire or skipped town to avoid the trial. When Jessup fails to appear for the trial, the bondsman comes looking for him and tells Ree that she has about a week before the house and land are seized. Ree tells him that Jessup must be dead, because "Dollys don't run". He tells her that she must provide proof that her father is dead to avoid the bond being forfeited. Later, Ree talks to an
Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...
recruiter about enlisting for the $40,000 bonus, but he tells her that she needs her parents' signatures to enlist and that she has the wrong reasons. Ree tries to go see Milton again and is severely beaten by the women of his family. Teardrop rescues Ree, promising her attackers that she will not cause more trouble. Teardrop tells Ree that her father was killed because he was going to inform on other meth cookers, but he does not know who killed him. He warns her that if she finds out who did, she must not tell him because he will seek revenge. On the way home, Ree and her uncle are stopped by the sheriff, who wants to question Teardrop. After a tense standoff, where Teardrop implies that he knows the Sheriff leaked that Jessup was an informer, Teardrop drives off. A few nights later, the Milton women who beat Ree come to her house and offer to take her to " erdaddy's bones". The women place a sack on her head and drive her to a pond, where they row to the shallow area where her father's submerged body lies. They tell Ree to reach into the water and grasp her father's hands so they can cut them off with a chainsaw; the severed hands will serve as proof of death for the authorities. Ree takes the hands to the sheriff, telling him that someone flung them onto the porch of her house. The bondsman gives Ree the cash portion of the bond, which was put up by an anonymous associate of Jessup. Ree tries to give Jessup's banjo to Teardrop, but he tells her to keep it at the house for him. As he is leaving, he tells her that he now knows who killed her father. Ree reassures Sonny and Ashlee that she will never leave them. As the three sit on the porch, Ashlee begins to play their father's banjo.


Cast

In addition, Isaiah Stone and Ashlee Thompson play Ree's younger brother and sister, respectively.


Music


Reception


Critical response

On
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the film holds an approval rating of 94% based on 178 reviews, with an average rating of 8.3/10. The website's critics consensus states: "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."
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assigned the film a weighted average score of 90 out of 100 based on 38 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
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gave the film 4 out of 4 stars, praising Lawrence's steely "hope and courage" that remains optimistic despite her tribulations, and calling attention to Granik's direction that avoids passing moral judgment on the characters or descending into stereotypes. Reviewer
Peter Travers Peter Joseph Travers (born June 27, 1943) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film i ...
found the film "unforgettable," writing in ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'', "Granik handles this volatile, borderline horrific material with unblinking ferocity and feeling.... In Lawrence, Granik has found just the right young actress to inhabit Ree. Her performance is more than acting, it's a gathering storm." Critic James Berardinelli said that "''Winter's Bone'' is a welcome reminder that thrillers don't have to be loud and boisterous to grab the attention and keep it captive." David Edelstein wrote in '' New York'' magazine, "For all the horror, it's the drive toward life, not the decay, that lingers in the mind. As a modern heroine, Ree Dolly has no peer, and ''Winter's Bone'' is the year's most stirring film." '' New Yorker'' critic David Denby called ''Winter's Bone'' "one of the great feminist works in film".


Top ten lists

''Winter's Bone'' was highly rated in many critics end-of-year lists, and
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ranked it in second place for the year, only behind
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. * 1st – David Edelstein, '' New York'' * 1st – '' The A.V. Club'' * 1st – Keith Phipps, '' The A.V. Club'' * 1st – David Germain,
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* 1st – Anne Thompson, Indiewire * 1st – David Fear, ''
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'' * 1st – Peter Hartlaub, ''
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'' * 2nd – David Ansen,
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* 2nd – Betsy Sharkey,
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* 2nd – Noel Murray and Scott Tobias, '' The A.V. Club'' * 3rd – Christy Lemire,
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* 3rd – Lisa Schwarzbaum, ''
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'' * 3rd – Eric Kohn, Indiewire * 5th –
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, ''
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'' * 5th – Joshua Rothkopf, ''
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'' * 6th – Tasha Robinson, '' The A.V. Club'' * 9th – Kirk Honeycutt, ''
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'' * 9th –
Peter Travers Peter Joseph Travers (born June 27, 1943) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film i ...
, ''
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'' * 10th – Kenneth Turan, ''
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'' * 10th – Claudia Puig, ''
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'' * 10th – Peter Rainer, ''
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'' * Top 10 (listed alphabetically) –
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, ''
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'' * Top 10 (listed alphabetically) – David Denby and Anthony Lane ''
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'' * Top 10 (listed alphabetically) – Carrie Rickey and Steven Rea ''
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'' * Top 10 (listed alphabetically) – Rick Groen and Liam Lacey ''
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'' The Writers Guild Foundation listed the script as one of the best in 2010s film and television. The script was praised as "filled with really specific dialogue and mountain speak, which just makes everything more vivid."


Box office

''Winter's Bone'' debuted in cinemas on June 11, 2010 in a
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in 4 theaters and grossed "a hearty" $84,797, with an average of $21,199 per theater and ranking #35 at the box office. The film's subsequent outing and expansion to 39 theaters earned $351,317, with an average of $9,008 per theater."Winter’s Bone Heats Up in the Heartland"
''Wall Street Journal'', June 27, 2010
The film's distributors Roadside Attractions aimed, concurrently with New York, Los Angeles and Boston, at "heartland cities" such as
Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
,
Overland Park Overland Park ( ) is the largest city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States, and the second-most populous city in the state of Kansas. It is one of four principal cities in the Kansas City metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the pop ...
, St. Louis, Springfield,
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and
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, which eventually all attracted significant audiences, surpassing New York's. According to the distributor, "the filmmakers had always wanted to deliver the movie to the people who helped them make it". The film was in cinemas for over 45 weeks and ultimately earned $6,531,503 domestically and $9,600,048 internationally for a total of $16,131,551, surpassing its $2 million budget.


Accolades

The film won the Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic Film and the Best Screenplay Award at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. It also received two awards at the 2010 Berlin Film Festival in Germany and at the 2010
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, it won the awards for Best Film, Best Actress (Lawrence) and the
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Prize. ''Winter's Bone'' also won Best Feature and Best Ensemble Performance at the 2010 Gotham Awards and it earned seven nominations at the 2010
Independent Spirit Awards The Independent Spirit Awards, originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards, and later as the Film Independent Spirit Awards, are awards presented annually in Santa Monica, California, to independent filmmakers. Founded in ...
, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actress.


See also

* ''Runoff'' (2014 film)


References


External links

* * *
Interview with John Hawkes ("Teardrop")
at Quietearth.us * * Moon, Michael and Colin Talley
"Life in a Shatter Zone: Debra Granik's Film ''Winter's Bone''."
''Southern Spaces'', December 6, 2010. {{Navboxes , title = Awards for ''Winter's Bone'' , list = {{Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Feature {{Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Ensemble Cast {{San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Film {{Sundance Grand Jury Prize Dramatic 2010 films 2010 crime drama films 2010 independent films 2010s English-language films 2010s feminist films American crime drama films American independent films Films about drugs Films about dysfunctional families Films about missing people Films based on American novels Films directed by Debra Granik Films set in Missouri Films shot in Missouri Films about poverty in the United States American neo-noir films Films set in the Ozarks Anonymous Content films Roadside Attractions films Sundance Film Festival award–winning films 2010s American films Films scored by Dickon Hinchliffe English-language independent films English-language crime drama films Southern noir films