Don’t want to see a movie about a backwoods Missouri girl worried about losing her home? Then you would miss what is likely to be the summer’s best movie, even if it isn’t very summery and can’t compete with the blockbusters. Ree (Jennifer Lawrence) is a 17-year-old whose toughness belies her vulnerability. With her own mother suffering from mental problems and her father lost to the burgeoning meth trade, she is mother to her two younger siblings. However, she will be without recourse if her father doesn’t show up for a court date. He’s put the house up as collateral for his bail. So, off she goes to find him.
This plot provides a way into the people and culture of the rural Ozarks. Although director and cowriter Debra Granik has no background in the area, she has incorporated a deep sense of place into the film without it seeming like a PBS special. (Some of the smaller parts went to locals as well.) The dialogue comes largely from Daniel Woodrell’s novel. Lawrence’s performance, too, anchors the film’s authenticity. Although not a key scene in terms of the story, a scene in which Ree shows her siblings how to skin a squirrel stands out for me. This isn’t because the scene seems bizarre, but because it doesn’t; instead, what I remember is how she is teaching the younger children, just as she had earlier shown them how to handle a rifle.
The movie succeeds as a suspense drama but is strongly driven by the characters and the setting. If at first it seems to be about a poor girl forced to contend with ignorant, diffident, hillbilly folk, it eventually becomes clear that Granik means to convey both positive and negative about the place, and for the people to surprise you. Here, fierce independence combines with a sense of community, and rich cultural traditions combine with the poverty and addiction now too prevalent. And none of it is dry or dull.
IMDB link
viewed 5/19/2010 at Prince [PFS screening] and reviewed 5/19–6/19/10
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