Dir. Lisa Cholodenko US 2010
There's a lot to work with when comparing these two films. I watched them both as part of my Oscar catch-up (making me 8 for 10 on Best Picture noms). Odds are that neither would have been nominated if the Academy were still operating under the 5 film structure. Both feature nominated Best Actress and Supporting Actor performances. Both were directed by women. Both are about (in their own very different ways) the importance of family and the difficulties therein.
I watched Winter's Bone at a pretty interesting point in my life, in terms of what I'm watching and reading. I'd just finished my second viewing of The Wire a week or so before I saw it. Later that night I watched the second season premiere of Justified. And just this past week I re-read all my issues of Scalped, my current favorite comic book from Vertigo. All four of these works deal with American communities functioning in abject poverty, places where the drug trade, substance abuse and violence run rampant. Places with their own cultures and codes and lifestyles. Justified even takes place in roughly the same area of the country as Winter's Bone (Harlan, Kentucky and the rural Missouri, respectively). Winter's Bone seems like an easy contender for the most realistic of the four (with The Wire probably being a close second), and it's definitely the most meditative. Structured loosely as a detective story (much of what I've read about it calls it a noir, although I don't totally agree with that), Winter's Bone is at its core a story about a girl who must endure the hell that is her extended family for the sake of saving her immediate family.
Jennifer Lawrence (Best Actor nom) stars as Ree Dolly, a 17-year old girl living in the wooded mountains of Missouri. Having dropped out of high school in order to care for her younger siblings and her mentally-disturbed mother, Ree's efforts are further complicated when she discovers that her father, who cooks meth for a living, skipped his court hearing after posting their home as collateral. Facing eviction within the week, Ree descends into a world of crime and violence in order to find her father and save what's left of her family.
Winter's Bone does a lot with very little. The dialogue is sparse and to the point. Other than Ree, the characters are vague sketches left to be filled in by a cast of weathered-looking and very effective character actors. The camerawork and editing are minimal as well, much of the mood being set by the chilly cinematography and the drab landscape. More than anything, Winter's Bone is a mood piece, the simple plot merely acting as a towline for the audience as they are dragged through a dark corner of America.
Within the plot itself, the more is less approach applies as well. Despite there being almost zero onscreen violence in the film, the threat of violence in the film is almost omnipresent. Nearly every character Ree encounters is willing to do her harm if it serves there interest, and unlike the protagonist of a detective novel (who would most likely be in the same situation), Ree is never afforded any means of protecting herself. Her willpower alone fuels both her character and the plot.
Lawrence herself, in her first leading role, plays along with the film's aesthetic; her voice is muted but clear, her reactions solid and measured. The believability of the entire film rests entirely on whether or not you believe that a 17-year old girl can be as hard, as determined and as savvy as Ree. The other nominated performance in this film is John Hawkes, who plays Ree's dangerous uncle, Teardrop. It was pretty wild to see Hawkes get an Oscar nomination, I have to say. I've been a fan of his since Deadwood and its nice to see someone doing so much solid character work get the recognition. Teardrop is definitely a departure for Hawkes, who manages to exude a gloomy, world-weary menace despite his thin frame and short stature. There's a scene toward the end of the film between him and the local sheriff (played by Garrett Dillahunt, another great Deadwood alum), that kept me on the edge of my seat despite being extremely underplayed by Hawkes. Neither Lawrence nor Hawkes have a chance in their respective categories at the Oscars, but I'm sure they appreciate the thought.
As for the movie as a whole, my feelings toward it could best (and most obnoxiously) be described as chilly. The premise and the execution are all solid, but by the end of the film I still felt like I was still at arms length from all the characters, even Ree. The overwhelming bleakness of the film doesn't allow much room for humor (and rightly so), but moments of levity are ultimately the best device for generating sympathy for characters, and there is none to be found in this film. It's a fascinating world and flawlessly made on a technical level, but I don't know that it's something I'd ever want to revisit.
Speaking of levity. The Kids Are All Right. Following the unanimous praise the film received in the immediate wake of its release, I starting coming across a lot of backlash against the film, especially following its multiple Oscar nominations. I agree with a number of these criticism, which I'll get to, but on an emotional level, I felt a pretty strong disconnect from this film as well. Maybe I'm just dead inside.
So the movie is about a middle-aged lesbian couple Nic and Jules (Annette Benning and Julianne Moore; a more realistically hot middle-aged lesbian couple would be tough to come by), who each gave birth to one of their two kids via artificial insemination. Their kids, Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and Laser (Josh Hutchinson) are now 18 and 16, and become curious about their biological father. They meet him without telling their moms and discover that he is a free-spirited hip(ster/pie) who owns an organic farm and rides a motorcycle (unsurprisingly, he's played by Mark Ruffalo). They all meet each other and heartfelt wackiness ensues.
One of the more common criticisms I heard about this film was that no one would have been that impressed if it had been about a straight couple. I'm inclined to agree. I'm grateful that the movie used only its broad premise to establish its quirky indie cred (other than a few details which varied in annoyance; the kids calling them 'the moms' was kind of charming, the son being named Laser, which is never explained, was pretty stupid). The characters are all well acted, but I really wasn't sure who I was supposed to be rooting for (among the three adults as least), and eventually ended up feeling ambivalent about their collective relationship(s). Benning and Moore have a natural chemistry together and the scenes between them where they're at peace, but their 'personality flaws' were a little too neatly drawn (Benning as the functioning alcoholic/control freak and Moore as the capricious, irresponsible one) and it made all the domestic drama a bit too predictable. Ruffalo's character felt a bit more real, mostly due to how increasingly despicable his actions become as the film progresses (although he was still fairly sympathetic by the end). His character arc is also left completely hanging, which I felt was a strange choice, but ultimately it does reinforce the familial bond between the other four characters, which is the point of the entire film.
I don't know how deserving any of the three adult leads are of their Oscar nominations. None of them are stretching themselves too far outside their comfort zone (not that you need to do that to deserve an Oscar), and the script was competent enough for it not to feel like they were carrying the movie entirely on their shoulders. I'm also not sure if its the fault of the marketing or the film itself that so much of the buzz revolved around its portrayal of a 'normal' gay family, but it does at times seem like its trying a bit too hard.
The Oscars are on tonight (it took me forever to post this review) and I don't see any of these films winning big (Annette Benning for Best Actress is probably the strongest possibility), but I'm glad I got to check them out beforehand. If I have time I may do a quick write-up of the ceremony in the next day or two. Other than that, I'm watched a pair of horror movies last week that I will hopefully get too soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment