Monday, August 16, 2010

UTW review of Winter's Bone



Go here if you want to read my Urban Tulsa review of one of 2010's best films so far: Winter's Bone. This is going to get a lot of attention when the awards start coming as it is an unflinching family drama set in the hardscrabble rural Ozarks. Filled with wonderful authenticity and terrific acting, Winter's Bone is highly recommended.

6 comments:

Eva said...

I simply must see this one, hopefully it'll be around in "rural Europe" (probably not). Anyway - though I have anything but a from-birth connection with rural America, I am obsessed with it, and with trailers, too (how thrilled I was when I got to see one from inside the first time). Both usually make for fascinating movies. Your description of this movie *really* reminds me of another movie that you may have seen, too - "Rosetta", by the Dardenne brothers, about a Belgian girl (in a trailer, too) who is fighting overwhelming poverty on her own and will do everything in the whole world to hold down some, any really, job.

Joshua Blevins Peck said...

Where's rural Europe Eva? You might be my only regular European reader so I might do a post related to films/directors where you live...or are from.

I haven't seen ROSETTA but I know it. Supposed to be very authentic and depressing, right? I'm not frightened of either of those things so I will put it in my Netflix queue.

Eva said...

Yes, Rosetta really was that good, and like you said about those films, they stay with you, I remember having seen it in Dublin at the cinema, and that must be at least ten years ago now, yet I remember so much of it, the constant walking, the hairdryer thing, the trailer, the waffle job... I'd love to see it again.

Rural Europe is the North German hinterlands - the buildings/villages and the landscape look a lot like in the White Ribbon. Luckily, everyday life isn't like in that movie.

Joshua Blevins Peck said...

The White Ribbon was one of my favorites from last year--but I'm glad to hear it's not like that village where you are, ha.

I'm going to put Rosetta in my queue and watch it soon. Short review on here to follow.

Eva said...

Finally got to see Winter's Bone, too - and really liked it. Even so, I liked Rosetta a bit better, maybe simply because it had less of am "extreme reality" (dealing hardcore criminals and death like in Winter's Bone) but that "regular reality" was awful and bleak enough. The two films are in fact comparable, and if you like one you probably like other one, too. With me Rosetta had even more of an effect, perhaps because Winter's Bone's events were more explicitly horrible which perhaps detached me from the events a bit more than Rosetta, where you feel like that could be yourself in a desperate situation some day. Still, excellent movie, though.

Joshua Blevins Peck said...

Glad you got to see it. I promised I'd watch ROSETTA a while back and I haven't forgotten, but it's not out on DVD in America at the moment. Have it in my "saved for later" queue in Netflix though. When it comes out I'll get to see it.