Winter's Bone

Winter's Bone ~ Set in the hillbilly hell that is modern Appalachia, this is a quest movie, similar to Easy Rider, The Wizard of Oz or even The Matrix, or some weird hybrid of the three. It also reminds me of The Road, only without the relationship, the narrative or the apocalypse. It is all of these films actually, minus the excitement, happiness or enthusiasm - or momentum. Winter's Bone is slow as hell.

Best Actress nominee Jennifer Lawrence tried to find her daddy who's on the run and has put the family home up for bail. If he doesn't show up, she loses everything. Most of the folks in this hillbilly hell don't want to help her. Everyone smokes pot and carries a gun, except for our protagonist so it's hard for her to make any headway finding her father.

Did I mention how slow this flick is? I wanted to scream at the screen for something to happen other than bad grammar or verbal and physical domestic abuse. Furthermore, Winter's Bone stinks of the social commentary that the bleeding hearts of the Academy love so much, but me, I kept waiting for the point, or better yet, a plot.

Now I wanted a plot, but when the flick turned into this effed up version of The Wicker Man meets Children of the Corn with a bit of, God forbid, The Village thrown in - I started wishing it didn't have a plot. Really. This got a Best Picture nomination, and Secretariat didn't? Wow. Not recommended.