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Is it worth $10? Yes
Ree (Jennifer Lawrence) is 17 years old and raising her two younger siblings (Ashlee Thompson and Isaiah Stone) in poverty because her father is gone and her mother is mentally ill. When she learns her drug-dealing father used their house as collateral for bail, and that they’ll lose the house if he doesn’t show for his trial, Ree goes on a desperate and dangerous quest to find him.
Writer/director Debra Granik sets the film in the cold, gloomy Ozarks, and at no point does it look like a desirable place to live. She doesn’t drive, so she has to walk through the mountains in a desperate search for help that she knows is futile. This is key, because we like and embrace Ree and want her to do well, but it’s clear from the beginning that everything and, seemingly, everyone, is against her. None of her father’s acquaintances will help her, and in fact she’s told to “leave it alone and stay away.”
It’s a star-making role for Lawrence (she’ll next play a young Mystique in “X-Men: First Class,” due next summer), and she is excellent. She makes us like and sympathize with Ree, but also gives her enough backbone to not let Ree be a total pushover. Ree can’t be – her brother and sister mean too much to her. As good as Lawrence is, also note the way John Hawkes, who plays Ree’s Uncle Teardrop, sneaks up on you – he’s superb as well.
“Winter’s Bond” is cold, harsh, distant and touching, and at 99 minutes doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. Though it lacks the dramatic punch to be “great,” it is a good example of a solid American independent film.
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