Winter's Bone

This movie is firmly entrenched right in the middle of the recent Downtrodden in Rural America trilogy of Frozen River, this, and Ballast. I would put this a bit ahead of Frozen River and slightly below Ballast.

In tone, it reminded me of the former though. Both deal with a woman (in this case - a 17-year-old girl) desperately trying to keep her family afloat despite the dangers she faces. The tension in this film becomes almost unbearable at points.

Taken together, these three films (all set in very different parts of the country) create a pretty scary picture of the problems still afflicting much of rural America. They also remind me a bit of some of the 60's documentaries I saw years ago about rural poverty - but now with meth! Scary but artful stuff.

Directed by Debra Granik
2010
Blu-ray