Winter's Bone review

"Winter's Bone" was a big hit at the Sundance film festival this year. So much of a hit that it took home the best picture prize. No easy feet. Based on the acclaimed novel of the same name, "Winter's Bone" is a backwoods noir story about a teenage girl taking care of her two young siblings and her ill mother while her father has disappeared. Things where they're at already seemed rather... rough from the opening shots of their home and surrounding woods and neighbors; but making matters worse is that her father has a court date to meet and cannot be found. He was released on bond and put up the house as collateral. So if he's a no show then they lose everything.

Thus Ree played by Jennifer Lawrence begins a dark and dangerous quest to track down her father and bring him back. Not so simple in a place where nobody wants to talk and everybody has got something to hide. Ree will go to the edge of death and deal with people would think little to nothing about silting her throat and tossing her in the woods. Lawrence is almost as terrific in this role as Ellen Paige was in "Juno". It's a character that could easily get bogged down into the pratfalls of type of indie suspenseful drama like this, but she never happens. In fact the mystery is dialed down a few notches as well so that we are mainly caring about this family that seems devoid of hope. I'll count that sadly though as something against "Winter's Bone". This is a ploy that works best when you really care about the kids and the family. Did I? Meh... yes and no. Personally my feelings towards tough for the sake of tough woods people aren't all that strong. But I did care somewhat due to seeing all the work that Ree had put in attempting to raise the children properly and care for her mother who seems to have lost her mind after dealing so much with the evils of her husband.

John Hawkes also delivers the a key and phenomenal performance in the film as Teardrop, Ree's uncle. He's surly, crass and about as rough around the edges as possible, but he cares. Personally I think both Lawrence and Hawkes could have Oscar nods and they would be very deserving. The other people we meet and locations we see are about as real and gritty as they get. De-contracted shacks and trailers out in the middle of nowhere with these fairly horrible fucking people inhabiting them. But it feels 100% real and probably because it was.

The finale of the picture for me is what does elevate it to the next level from being a slightly above average suspense drama, to something more is it nearly hitting on some carnal horror moments. Not simply in the traditional way, but in it's narrative as well which becomes slightly more down beat. I won't let you know what it all boils down to, but it's not particularly pleasant. I don't think "Winter's Bone" is the best thriller I've seen all year (much like my feelings on "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"), but it's worthy of much of it's acclaim and could have a stronger following down the line. Probably due to it's terrific performances.

The House of the Devil review

Ti West's "The House of the Devil" is one of those movies that probably once you know what you're walking into it becomes a stronger overall piece, but less frightening. I'm not saying this to knock the movie either, because it's much more of a simple suspense story rather than a full fledged horror movie. The film is heavily mimicked after similar styled films of the 70's and 80's and begins with a similar 'based on true, unexplained events' tag, when it's about as real as the Coen's "Fargo". It could happen, but we don't know if any of this did and as long as it's interesting we really don't care too much. Jocelin Donahue played Samantha, a college girl that's trying to move out of her dorm and into a house off campus. The real estate agent (cameo by horror legend Dee Wallace, always great seeing her) waves the fees so long as Samantha can come up with the first months rent by Monday. Regardless of her waving the other fees, that's still money she doesn't have.

At school she notices a babysitting ad on the board and gives it a ring. There is no answer. However as she walks away the pay phone she called from rings and it's the man who posted the wanted ad. Surely this must be a bizarre sign. Eh, maybe not, but after meeting the man played by Tom Noonan ('Manhunter'), his wife Mary Woronov and generally being in their very secluded house for a little while and THEN something might click that this place and these people are bug nuts. However the plot REALLY thickens when he informs Samantha that there is no baby and instead they have to look after his wife's elderly mother. He even offers her four hundred dollars for the work. She accepts.

What happens then is really tough to play out, but it's something that relays HEAVILY on the viewers patience and willing to wait for it to get into it's real horror elements. I will say that once it does it doesn't last too long which is unfortunate because it works quite well. Stylistically "The House of the Devil" feels quite old and not in a showy sense, but in a low budget and slightly off cliter technically sense with some real talent behind the camera. West is honestly on his way to getting his name really out there and I'd love to see this guy get a real budget and some other talents for a horror picture. I won't say this is something completely new, but it does offer up a lot of well done suspense that's never in a rush to get to the juicy stuff. That restraint is something very admirable in this day in age where there's always a mad rush to get into the violence or macabre.