Film: Caught up with Winters Bone
February 1st, 2011 at 7:37:45 PM
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Bleak.
Don't get me wrong, it is an excellent movie, very human. But it is emphatically NOT a good time. Watch it when you are feeling reflective and introspective.
Absolutely awesome performance by Jennifer Lawrence. This is the fourth strong female performance of 2010 that I've seen (Hallie Steinfeld, Melissa Leo, Natalie Portman, Jennifer Lawrence); honestly, I think it is better than Steinfeld's. The film itself isn't as enjoyable as True Grit, but Lawrence's performance is just incredible; she melts into the role.
The film itself has some interesting things going on. It gives up information very grudgingly, just like the story itself, just like the characters in the story. Everything hangs on bare bones, on the thread of the edge of survival, and the cinematography and direction fit the mix of poverty and money, of world and society, of old and new right to the T.
Worthy of the praise it's received, worthy of a Best Picture nomination, but not a Best Picture winner. And again: it is a rough row to hoe, very sparse, the characters are like crops struggling to grow on arid land.
Don't get me wrong, it is an excellent movie, very human. But it is emphatically NOT a good time. Watch it when you are feeling reflective and introspective.
Absolutely awesome performance by Jennifer Lawrence. This is the fourth strong female performance of 2010 that I've seen (Hallie Steinfeld, Melissa Leo, Natalie Portman, Jennifer Lawrence); honestly, I think it is better than Steinfeld's. The film itself isn't as enjoyable as True Grit, but Lawrence's performance is just incredible; she melts into the role.
The film itself has some interesting things going on. It gives up information very grudgingly, just like the story itself, just like the characters in the story. Everything hangs on bare bones, on the thread of the edge of survival, and the cinematography and direction fit the mix of poverty and money, of world and society, of old and new right to the T.
Worthy of the praise it's received, worthy of a Best Picture nomination, but not a Best Picture winner. And again: it is a rough row to hoe, very sparse, the characters are like crops struggling to grow on arid land.
A falling knife has no handle.
February 1st, 2011 at 10:36:09 PM
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Jennifer Lawrence was supposed to be amazing, but virtually no one has seen this movie. I think they will go with someone else.
February 2nd, 2011 at 7:35:37 AM
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Quote: pacomartinJennifer Lawrence was supposed to be amazing, but virtually no one has seen this movie. I think they will go with someone else.
As great as she is in this, for me best actress still goes to Natalie Portman in the total mind-freaker Black Swan. I rank the performances as Portman, Lawrence, Steinfeld, Leo. And if more people had seen Lawrence, I think they'd have to agree. That doesn't take ANYTHING away from Steinfeld, it just says how amazing Lawrence is to be better.
After sleeping on it, I have to say this film just gets better. I can't stop thinking about it. I called it bleak, but I'll also call it difficult, demanding, and ultimately rewarding. The ensemble itself, the entire cast completely and unerringly inhabits the dramatic space and puts the viewer in the rural Ozarks with them. Except that there is a plot, the film looks and feels like a documentary. And John Hawkes as Teardrop is just as good as Lawrence is as Ree. Still not Best Picture, but a really amazing work. (FYI: Budget of $2M, opened on 4 screens, gross to date of $6.27M.)
Here's a link to the trailer, you can see what I mean about "bleak". And, the movie might be worth seeing just for that one scene, a line of dialog that is in the trailer, between Teardrop and Sheriff Baskin.
A falling knife has no handle.
