For all the horror, it's the drive toward life, not the decay, that lingers in the mind. As a modern heroine, Ree Dolly has no peer, and Winter's Bone is the year's most stirring film.
Winter's Bone is unforgettable. It means to shake you, and does.
80
Village Voice
Village Voice
In the end, the most interesting aspect of this quiet, sometimes frustrating, sometimes thrilling film is the way it teases out the intricate power structures that flourish even in as godforsaken (and lovely) a place as the Ozarks.
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeFore
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeFore
Grim backwoods tale takes its time building momentum.
70
MovielineStephanie Zacharek
MovielineStephanie Zacharek
Debra Granik's Winter's Bone is one of those movies -- like last year's inner-city down-a-thon, "Precious" -- that can't quite make a distinction between profundity and plain old bleakness.