This cannot happen, but thanks to a code of silence that exists amongst her backwoods relatives there isn’t too much a single person can do to find the Dolly family’s missing patriarch. Or is there? Ree fears the alternative far more than she does her kin’s deadly wrath, the thought they could lose everything because of her father’s stupidity a thing she simply will not stand for.

Based on the stirring novel by Daniel Woodrell, director Debra Granik’s (Down to the Bone) sophomore effort Winter’s Bone is the best picture I’ve seen so far this year. This terrific cultural and psychological thriller is a horrifying descent into mystery so mesmerizing I couldn’t have taken my eyes off of the screen had I even dared try, the film made all the more potent thanks to Lawrence’s superlative performance.

I’m not entirely sure where to begin. From the very start I knew I was in for a treat, the level of authenticity Granik achieves in just the first couple of frames absolutely stunning. Her attention to every little detail, from the way Ree hangs clothes on a windswept line, to how her neighbors eyeball her every movement so intently when the Sheriff comes over for his visit, to how the teen lovingly explains to her younger brother how to properly skillet their breakfast, is beyond acute, and there were times I almost imagined I was watching some sort of documentary about Ozark culture instead of a viscerally unsettling thriller.

But her film is much more then a picture postcard of hard living amidst extreme conditions and even more extreme social mores. It is in fact a densely plotted mystery, a puzzle box desperately in need of being solved. Granik, along with first time co-screenwriter Anne Rosellini, do such a masterful job of streamlining Woodrell’s richly complicated prose the effect is startling. For those that haven’t read the book the suspense at times is downright unbearable. For those of us who have it is equally so.

The honest truth is that even though I knew the ultimate destination Granik still had me guessing as to whether or not Ree or her family were going to survive this ordeal. I began to wonder which way was up and if getting out from under was even a possibility for the Dollys. Heck, even the status quo was more acceptable the being put through a torture test of conflict and heartbreak like this, my stomach twisting into tighter and tighter knots the deeper into the viper’s nest Ree took it upon herself to descend.

And yet there is hope, a constant light at the end of the tunnel that while not steadily bright was still always there to let off its glow. Ree is a driven and dedicated heroine, and while she doesn’t embrace the journey thrust upon her not once does she take a step backwards even when the unbearable fear of retribution becomes all encompassing.

Lawrence, a young actress who made strong if not entirely memorable appearances in films as diverse as Garden Party and The Burning Plain,

takes things to a different level with her performance here. In every scene she becomes Ree body and soul, taking on her personage with an genuineness that’s magnetic. It is the kind of signature bit of work that turns character actors into bona fide movie stars, and like Carey Mulligan and Hilary Swank before her I can’t help believe the same sort of thing is in store for Lawrence.

I would be remiss if I did not mention that the majority of the cast rises up and equals her. Veteran character actors John Hawkes (Miami Vice, Me and You and Everyone We Know) and Dale Dickey (A Perfect Getaway, Changeling)

are stunning, the former playing Ree’s nervy uncle Teardrop while the latter goes right for the jugular as the mountain community’s ironfisted matriarch Merab. The two tear up the screen going places I never quite saw coming, each having indelible moments so rich and satisfying in a perfect world Oscar should be screaming their names from some smoky, log cabin rooftop for the remainder of the year.

As I mentioned earlier, the look and feel of the film borders on flawless. Michael McDonough’s (Down to the Bone) cinematography is robust and alive, while production designer Mark White (Transamerica) uses his Missouri locations with a precision that’s electric. Dickon Hinchliffe’s (Cold Souls) score ranks as one of the only ones this year I’m almost frothing at the mouth to own, the composer’s original themes melding marvelously with songs and other works signature to the region.

There is so much to crow about I almost don’t know where to stop. This is a movie I went to the press screening with my fingers crossed that it could live up to the hype it had generated coming out of this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Not only did it do just that Granik’s consummate effort vaulted right over said hype to become something I’m dying to take others to so they get the opportunity to experience its richly satisfying gifts for themselves. It is, for my money, absolute perfection, and in a 2010 that’s been something of a letdown Winter’s Bone is the type of masterpiece that makes enduring all that trash happily worthwhile. 

Film Rating: êêêê (out of 4) 

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