SummaryThis tense, naturalistic thriller follows 17-year-old Ree Dolly as she confronts the local criminal underworld and the harsh Ozark wilderness in order to to track down her father, who has put up the family homestead for his bail. Featuring a star-making performance by Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone is sure to be one of the most-critically accla... Read More
Directed By:Debra Granik
Written By:Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini, Daniel Woodrell
Winter's Bone
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
90
User score
Generally Favorable
7.5
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
95% Positive
36 Reviews
36 Reviews
5% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
100
A vivid reworking of Daniel Woodrell's novel that brings the book's conflicted heroine to searing life in a piece of unhurried filmmaking too rarely seen these days.
100
Winter's Bone never hits a false note.
User score
Generally Favorable
79% Positive
387 Ratings
387 Ratings
15% Mixed
76 Ratings
76 Ratings
6% Negative
29 Ratings
29 Ratings
Oct 9, 2022
10
Debra Granik's film, Winter's Bone is one of the best films of all time, and it is expertly written. Ree Dolly is one of the most interesting protagonists of all time. Teardrop Dolly is another complex character worth watching.
Mar 30, 2022
10
Jennifer Lawrence gives a star making performance and it has a gripping story even though some of the cast gives bad performances and its low budget makes it suffer. I give this movie 82%.
100
The movie heroes who affect me most are not extroverted. They don't strut, speechify and lead armies. They have no superpowers. They are ordinary people who are faced with a need and rise to the occasion. Ree Dolly is such a hero.
100
For all the horror, it's the drive toward life, not the decay, that lingers in the mind. As a modern heroine, Ree Dolly has no peer, and Winter's Bone is the year's most stirring film.
88
Winter's Bone is unforgettable. It means to shake you, and does.
75
This is a world out of time and, despite the trappings of flinty realism, the film too unfolds like an elemental myth from the stormy past – a Greek tragedy driven by dark fates and struggling toward a catharsis.
50
The main reason for Winter's Bone to exist is that it delivers a little voyeuristic thrill -- a bit of poverty porno -- for the critics who awarded it their highest honors at this year's Sundance Film Festival.
Apr 30, 2016
10
Outstanding! This movie feels so real and raw, with its visuals and performances, that it almost tricks the audience into thinking it is a documentary. Very intimate, suspenseful, a very meticulously researched, in depth study about life in the Ozarks. Debra Granik's direction, every actor's performance, even from the local non-actors, works together perfectly to recreate this realty. But of course, the highlight of the movie is its young heroine Ree Dolly, portrayed with such unusual intensity and maturity by one of the best actresses working today, Jennifer Lawrence.
Feb 22, 2018
6
While the characters are particularly well played with high degree of authenticity, the plot falls short and become more of a long and drowy tale that fails to engage the audiences.
Aug 30, 2014
6
This one was alright to pretty good. Jennifer Lawrence delivers a true powerhouse performance, while John Hawkes is great in a supporting role. The look and feel of this film is also very good and feels very authentic and cold (perfect for the season it takes place in). The direction from Debra Granik is also very good and the way the story is told is solid. However, it does go a little slow at times and the bleakness is at times overwhelming and suffocates an interesting story. Plus, there are some more gruesome scenes (not really graphic, but still) that are a pet peeve of mine in films that really take me out of a film. However, as a whole, Winter's Bone is a solid look at rural life that manages to be at least somewhat interesting throughout. I am surprised this one got the praise it did, because I did not find it to be overly special, aside from the acting and the cinematography.
Feb 2, 2011
3
I really don't understand why this film got such high praise! I get that gives us a realistic look at the lives of poor people living in small tow, USA. Even though Jennifer Lewis deliveries a very convincing performance as Ree the 17 year old small town girl dealing with a lot of issues, this still was just a boring, and pointless film!!! They have made better TV movies! Bottom line, this film was a waste of time so don't bother!!!
Acting: Great
Storyline: Weak
Characters: Boring
Dec 15, 2017
2
Aside from Jennifer Lawrence, the rest of the cast is forgettable. John Hawkes is under-utilized, and this bleak Ozark poverty porn tale seems like a natural precursor to the nation's opiate epidemic. The ending "drama" is laughably campy.
