Winter's Bone

2010’s Winter’s Bone, directed by Debra Granik.

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Isaiah Stone, Ashlee Thompson, Shelley Waggener, Garret Dillahunt, Dale Dickey, and Lauren Sweetser.

Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay (Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini), Best Actress (Jennifer Lawrence), and Best Supporting Actor (John Hawkes).

What is it about?

17 year old Rees (Jennifer Lawrence), her 12 year old brother, Sonny (Isaiah Stone), and 6 year old sister, Ashlee (Ashlee Thompson), live in poverty in the Ozarks of Missouri. Their mother is catatonic, and criminal father, Jessup, is missing, leaving Rees to look after the family. They’re informed by Sheriff Baskin (Garret Dillahunt) that their father put their house up for his bond, forcing Rees to try to locate Jessup. Reaching out into the community, she discovers few answers but plenty of people happy to let the meth ravaged and poverty stricken community remain in silence. With her Uncle Teardrop (John Hawkes) alternating between terrifying and helpful, will Rees be able to keep her homestead intact?

Why is it worth seeing?

In terms of her career output, director/co-writer Debra Granik can hardly be accused of being prolific- but when she punches it lands squarely in the jaw. Adapted from Daniel Woodrell’s 2006 novel of the same name, Granik takes us square into the heart of the dirt poor Ozarks in rural Missouri. Discovering a land of burned out meth lab shacks and well, just shacks, there lie generations of people enmeshed in inter generational poverty who feel pretty comfortable with their way of life, and to whom silence towards institutions such as the law are a matter of pride. To accompany Rees on her hostile odyssey, Granik fills the frame with non professional actors and local artists, giving the air a kind of agoraphobic authenticity to us as outsiders, but also showing people living somewhere they would never leave if they could. In a land of domestic violence and criminal activity, even a pat on the head can feel powerfully comforting in dem’ hills.

Solidly anchoring the film, is the actor coming out party for Jennifer Lawrence. As the 17 year old teen desperately looking after her entire family, she gives a performance here that takes your breath away. Devoid of sentimentality but certainly not immune to the acetic journey into a landscape resembling something from Macbeth, the actress’ resulting stardom feels as inevitable as the thick web of silence from the film’s various victims of violence. There’s no one whom you would rather journey into blackness with. Not far behind, is John Hawke’s searing performance as Rees’ Uncle Teardrop. Quiet, unpredictable, menacing, and unclear as to whether he is a helpful family member or antagonistic agent of chaos, it’s a stunner. The two of them deserved their Oscar nominations, if not more.


Besides casting and authenticity, another of Granik’s strengths lies in her unsentimental intimacy, which stands out all the more in such a brutal setting. In one scene, a person ruthlessly harms another person, both as a lesson to the victim, and as a warning to a witness. It’s ugly stuff- but Granik manages to make it feel intimate (possessing none of Scorcese’s explosive kinetics for example), almost in denial of the awfulness of hurting other people as a method of control. It’s not the first time she’s made less positive emotions as a barely noted upon elegiac note. It’s the touch of a great director (who happens to be female), and as Rees continues through her twisted journey to its conclusion, both resolution and the seeds of further fate are planted in the film’s closing scenes. You start off the film not knowing why people choose to live where they do. You finish understanding why they would never leave.

Rating:

5/5

Trailer: Click Here.

Inception

2010’s Inception, written and directed by Christopher Nolan.

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy, Dileep Rao, Cillian Murphy, Pete Postlethwaite, Tom Berenger, and Lukas Haas.

Nominated for An Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay (Christopher Nolan), Best Music Score (Hans Zimmer), Best Art Direction (Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias, and Douglas A. Mowat), Best Cinematography (Wally Pfister), Best Sound Mixing (Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo, and Ed Novick), Best Sound Editing (Richard King), and Best Visual Effects (Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, Pete Bebb, and Paul J. Franklin).

Winner of an Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Wally Pfister), Best Sound Mixing (Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo, and Ed Novick), Best Sound Editing (Richard King), and Best Visual Effects (Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, Pete Bebb, and Paul J. Franklin).

What is it about?

Intellectual criminal Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) works as an extractor, going into people’s dreams to steal people’s information. Banned from seeing his family back in the States, a CEO named Saito (Ken Watanabe) offers Cobb an opportunity- instead of stealing information from a target, he must plant an idea in business rival Robert Fisher (Cillian Murphy)’s brain, a phenomenon known as Inception. Teaming up with trusted associate, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), architect, Ariadne (Ellen Page), con man, Eames (Tom Hardy), and chemist, Yusef (Dileep Rao), the crew has to create a unique idea in a hostile environment. Not only do they have to deal with the defence mechanisms of their mark, but also with the emotional baggage that they bring with them. Will they be able to successfully plant their idea?

Why is it worth seeing?

For better or worse, Christopher Nolan has always been a cerebral film maker. Blessed with a mind that has created unique and provocative work: from a tattoo covered maniac operating backwards in time, to magicians one upping each other, to space travelling cosmonauts, to enjoy his brand of film making is to enjoy what Barton Fink would describe as “the life of the mind”- only here we really are inside the mind.  With Inception, from the opening Syncopy logo, it’s clear that the film’s biggest star isn’t the mega wattage DiCaprio- it’s mazes and puzzles. Possessing an inverted sense of direction so twisted it’s practically a straight line, towards the ending of the film one could be forgiven for laughing out loud at how many times the movie’s montages of dreams within dreams happening to multiple subjects play themselves out. That’s why the film, a summer blockbuster that delivers thrills while still having a brain and respecting its audience enough to warrant re-watches in the future, is special.


There’s a lot admire. Featuring a murderer’s row of collaborators at the apex of their powers, it all starts with writer/director Nolan, completely at his peak. With his usual allotment of respective fetishes such as men’s fashion, water, and Michael Caine, he merges his love of psychological think pieces, with his experience on previous films making action set pieces. With the pretzel logic of the plot’s last third threatening to melt theatre goer brains, the movie moves so fast, and so adroitly, that it’s not really necessary to understand which layer of dream (and to which dream subject) is currently occurring. In a movie that deposits the idea that reality may not be what we think it is, it functions as a potential meta commentary on the nature of reality as we know it. In the world of the cinematic dreamscape, where audiences are entertained with stories of characters that aren’t actually happening, here’s a work of art where even the reality may be more dream based than the dream sequences themselves. It’s as if it were The Matrix, but it takes place entirely inside people’s minds- a simulacrum of analogue technology wrapped around a endlessly clever heist film.

Speaking of heists, stealing hearts since the mid 90’s, is star Leonardo DiCaprio. I don’t know if this is his most well acted film, but I think it’s the vehicle that most aligns itself with his sensibilities. His performance of Cobb, the intelligent and ambitious thief who flies too close to the sun regarding interior exploration, is a captivating mix of movie star charisma and grit (there’s a reason I refer to him as the Kobe Bryant of actors). Just watching him launch into his character’s practiced monologues, designed to intimidate and fool dream subjects, is a joy to behold. Beamed into prominence by the ultra sharp lenses of cinematographer Wally Pfister (who deservedly won an Oscar for his efforts), Leo’s haunted intensity and go for broke desperation have never featured better. Tom Hardy, as a witty con man is also fantastic, in a too rare role where he is featured prominently- without a mask (or symbiotic alien parasitic life form, etc).

Accompanying the dreamscape, composer Hans Zimmer continues his collaborations with Nolan, and creates a score that is an’ all timer. Just try not humming it after the end credits roll. When I talk about how the movie has collaborators firing on all cylinders, Zimmer would later start to lapse into self parody in scores such as Dark Knight Rises where the drums felt like they ought to come with Tylenol. Here, he helps propel the movie’s sense of movement as its Russian Doll plotting keeps going inwards and back again. And what movement. Nolan’s before mentioned acquired skills regarding action, showcasing the movie’s scenes of anti gravity hotels and slow motion falls- the perfect companion for a film featuring many mirrors. It’ll really wake you up from the doldrums.

Rating:

4.5/5

Trailer: Click Here.