Winter's Bone

[Green Lantern]

I mentioned this excellent film a few months ago when it played at Sundance: http://cougaruteforum.com/showthread...=winter's+bone.

It's now playing at the Broadway in Salt Lake and I've gotta put in a major plug for it. It's probably the best movie I've seen this year and if you like great writing, suspense, characterization and atmosphere, you won't be let down.

[falafel]

How was I supposed to know it was a film if you didn't capitalize it?!

[Tim]

How was I supposed to know it was a film if you didn't capitalize it?!

Hahaha. I thought the same thing. It must be a play or an opera or a television series.

[Green Lantern]

How was I supposed to know it was a film if you didn't capitalize it?!

LOL. WINTER'S BONE!

[MarkGrace]

I mentioned this excellent film a few months ago when it played at Sundance: http://cougaruteforum.com/showthread...=winter's+bone.

It's now playing at the Broadway in Salt Lake and I've gotta put in a major plug for it. It's probably the best movie I've seen this year and if you like great writing, suspense, characterization and atmosphere, you won't be let down.

Agree on the atmosphere (though I think they pushed it just a bit too hard), the characterization (the lead character was great, as was the uncle and the chick from Breaking Bad), didn't feel any suspense at all, and the writing, well, there just wasn't enough going on this movie for me to have any true sense of the writing.

Overall I was very underwhelmed given the hype for this movie. I did, however, love the scene with the chainsaw and the hands. That felt like it was ripped straight from a Coen film.

[Donuthole]

Sounds like a holiday-themed porno.

[Green Lantern]

Agree on the atmosphere (though I think they pushed it just a bit too hard), the characterization (the lead character was great, as was the uncle and the chick from Breaking Bad), didn't feel any suspense at all, and the writing, well, there just wasn't enough going on this movie for me to have any true sense of the writing.

Overall I was very underwhelmed given the hype for this movie. I did, however, love the scene with the chainsaw and the hands. That felt like it was ripped straight from a Coen film.

Didn't feel any suspense!? Wow, one of the things I loved about the film was the feeling of dread and unease that permeated the entire film. And the suspense for me just built and built until that crescendo of a climax that you refer to.

[jay santos]

My comment in the movie thread:

spoiler below...not doing it right apparently
















OK, so they set up a totally fascinating world with these characters and their lives and everything and they had a nice little mystery suspense thing wondering what the dad had gotten himself into. The bad guys didn't seem believable how they were reacting to this girl. All she wanted was to ask where her dad was. They knew the underground world already knew they killed him. Why so secretive? Why so aggressive? What info did the girl's dad have to begin with that the cops would be willing to deal and someone rich paid him off? They never explained. What was the deal with the men surrounding her in that barn? Were they going to rape her? wtf? The logic all the people used, from the girl to the bad guys to the girl's dad to the girl's uncle to the cop, it was all backwards and made no sense. But like I said maybe that was part of the point, to create a world where people used thinking processes that the rest of the world doesn't even understand?

[Green Lantern]

My comment in the movie thread:

spoiler below...not doing it right apparently

Spoiler for plot:

OK, so they set up a totally fascinating world with these characters and their lives and everything and they had a nice little mystery suspense thing wondering what the dad had gotten himself into. The bad guys didn't seem believable how they were reacting to this girl. All she wanted was to ask where her dad was. They knew the underground world already knew they killed him. Why so secretive? Why so aggressive? What info did the girl's dad have to begin with that the cops would be willing to deal and someone rich paid him off? They never explained. What was the deal with the men surrounding her in that barn? Were they going to rape her? wtf? The logic all the people used, from the girl to the bad guys to the girl's dad to the girl's uncle to the cop, it was all backwards and made no sense. But like I said maybe that was part of the point, to create a world where people used thinking processes that the rest of the world doesn't even understand?

See to me the antagonists' response to this girl seemed totally in line with their lifestyle:

Spoiler for expanation:

This girl's dad had started cooperating with the authorities. He'd been killed for it. Now his daughter comes around asking questions while everyone's paranoia is still at even higher than usual levels. People have seen the sheriff at her house. They want this girl to shut up or they'll shut her up.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Watched this Saturday night and, as GL described, it's an excellent movie. And yet I really didn't enjoy it all that much, as contradictory as that may seem. It creates a very powerful and consistent mood that was almost overwhelming at times, perhaps because I'm fully of holiday cheer at the moment and this was kind of sucked a lot of that out of the room. The performances were consistently outstanding--the young woman is pretty much perfect--and one marvels at how the director maintained the authenticity of the setting and people so superbly throughout.

Perhaps one of the best films of the year, but save it until after Christmas, as you wouldn't want to undo all the fine work DDD is doing with the contest and all.

[MarkGrace]

Didn't feel any suspense!? Wow, one of the things I loved about the film was the feeling of dread and unease that permeated the entire film. And the suspense for me just built and built until that crescendo of a climax that you refer to.

No, I didn't, and for two reasons. One was because I never really got that into the movie. It was just so dang slow and full of space that I was never fully sucked into its world. Two was because I never thought for a second anything was going to happen to the girl. The movie had established a certain code, and even when they gave the girl the beatdown it was clear they had some affection for her and didn't necessarily want to do it. If they would have just taken that chainsaw and gone off with her head there at the pond it would have been pretty inconsistent with the rest of the film.

[jay santos]

No, I didn't, and for two reasons. One was because I never really got that into the movie. It was just so dang slow and full of space that I was never fully sucked into its world. Two was because I never thought for a second anything was going to happen to the girl. The movie had established a certain code, and even when they gave the girl the beatdown it was clear they had some affection for her and didn't necessarily want to do it. If they would have just taken that chainsaw and gone off with her head there at the pond it would have been pretty inconsistent with the rest of the film.

I've been trying to explain why it didn't resonate more with me (I did really like it, but I thought it missed slightly where it could have been a home run), and what you say is kind of line with what I thought. Maybe what I would say is not that there was a code that they wouldn't hurt the girl, but that the girl posed no threat to the bad guys. Absolutely none. The cops already knew who killed her father. The cops weren't a threat to this gang. The girl wasn't. There was no reason to threaten or scare the girl. The gang caused more trouble for themselves by treating her like an enemy than if they would have just been friendly, and said "yeah we can't tell you exactly you know for errrr legal reasons but yes your father is dead". So any suspense due to worry for physical harm of the girl, for me at least, felt so illogical it didn't resonate.

[Green Lantern]

No, I didn't, and for two reasons. One was because I never really got that into the movie. It was just so dang slow and full of space that I was never fully sucked into its world. Two was because I never thought for a second anything was going to happen to the girl. The movie had established a certain code, and even when they gave the girl the beatdown it was clear they had some affection for her and didn't necessarily want to do it. If they would have just taken that chainsaw and gone off with her head there at the pond it would have been pretty inconsistent with the rest of the film.

I've been trying to explain why it didn't resonate more with me (I did really like it, but I thought it missed slightly where it could have been a home run), and what you say is kind of line with what I thought. Maybe what I would say is not that there was a code that they wouldn't hurt the girl, but that the girl posed no threat to the bad guys. Absolutely none. The cops already knew who killed her father. The cops weren't a threat to this gang. The girl wasn't. There was no reason to threaten or scare the girl. The gang caused more trouble for themselves by treating her like an enemy than if they would have just been friendly, and said "yeah we can't tell you exactly you know for errrr legal reasons but yes your father is dead". So any suspense due to worry for physical harm of the girl, for me at least, felt so illogical it didn't resonate.

Interesting points. I disagree, obviously, but then I always find it fascinating to log the different responses people can have to a film. For example, the part of MG's comment above that I've highlighted is an apt description of the kind of movies and movie worlds that I do get sucked into. I really liked George Clooney's The American too and that one was also "dang slow and full of space." On the other end of the spectrum, I saw Tron this weekend and while there was all kinds of stuff going on all the time, I found the world on screen mostly uninvolving and I was supremely bored by the whole enterprise.

[jay santos]

Interesting points. I disagree, obviously, but then I always find it fascinating to log the different responses people can have to a film. For example, the part of MG's comment above that I've highlighted is an apt description of the kind of movies and movie worlds that I do get sucked into. I really liked George Clooney's The American too and that one was also "dang slow and full of space." On the other end of the spectrum, I saw Tron this weekend and while there was all kinds of stuff going on all the time, I found the world on screen mostly uninvolving and I was supremely bored by the whole enterprise.

Completely agree wrt to pace and action in a film.

[FN Phat]

I finally got around to watching this tonight with my wife. A few years ago I went down to Memphis to catch Syracuse in the Sweet 16. We went through SE Missouri and then dropped down into TN from there. I was with my dad (6'7" and 270 lbs.) and we stopped at a Taco Bell to grab some lunch about half way from KY to Memphis. I have never seen my ol' man so uncomfortable and uneasy. He is an intiminating figure and yet there was something about the locals that was very unsettling. We ordered our food but quickly realized that the locals stopped talking and were just staring at us. My dad looked at me and said that we had better get to the truck and find a new place to eat. I didn't ask why. I felt the same vibe from the girl's uncle and Thump and his boys.

I would have to agree with PAC. This is a great movie, probably one of the best that I have seen in a long while, but I am not sure that I enjoyed it.