Winter's Bone (Debra Granik)

A director any less bold that Granik would have made this movie to be about either hope or despair. Granik avoids both, instead making it about perseverance in an environment where everyone else has given up. Responsible for caring for two younger siblings and her withdrawn mother, Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) must find her father, dead or alive, before he misses his court hearing and their home is forfeited to the bail bondsman.

Visually, each shot of the Ozark back country is filled with copious amounts of bleak minutia that in less assured hand would merely depress the viewer. These details provide the unspoken back story that Ree negotiates. This is clearly the country of illegal meth cooking, a fact that forms the backdrop to the oscillations between violence and indifference that Ree must face down. That she accomplishes her mission is no cause for hope. No ray of sunshine breaks through the gray sky, no white knight prances in to deliver these foresaken children. And yet, and yet.

For a lyrical homage to the film, see David Denby's review in 5 July 2010 New Yorker.

Highly recommend.