Winter's Bone

"Talking just causes witnesses."

2010 1h 41m EN

👍

6.8

SOLID

★6.8TMDB · 2,069

DramaMystery

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

After discovering her father put their house up for his bail bond and then disappeared, 17-year-old Ree Dolly must confront the local criminal underworld and the harsh Ozark wilderness in order to to track down her father and save her family.

“Talking just causes witnesses.”

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Cast

Jennifer Lawrence
Ree Dolly
John Hawkes
Teardrop
Kevin Breznahan
Little Arthur
Dale Dickey
Merab
Garret Dillahunt
Sheriff Baskin
Sheryl Lee
April
Shelley Waggener
Sonya
Isaiah Stone
Sonny

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Debra Granik
Writers: Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $2.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 6.9× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 16 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Debra Granik, shot by Michael McDonough. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Dickon Hinchliffe. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Affonso Gonçalves shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes and Kevin Breznahan carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Talking just causes witnesses.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Debra Granik directs. Michael McDonough behind the camera. Dickon Hinchliffe scores. Affonso Gonçalves cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $2.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Made its money back 6.9× over at the box office.
3Released 16 years ago.
4Directed by Debra Granik, shot by Michael McDonough. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Dickon Hinchliffe. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Affonso Gonçalves shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes and Kevin Breznahan carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Talking just causes witnesses.".
9IMDB entry: tt1399683 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 35 themes, including "sheriff", "based on novel or book", "missouri", "suspicion".

The technical file

Cinematography: Michael McDonough
Original score: Dickon Hinchliffe
Editing: Affonso Gonçalves
Production design: Mark White
Makeup / hair: Maya Hardinge
Stunt coordinator: Shawn Patrick Nash
Runtime: 101 min · 1h 41m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $2,000,000
Box office: $13,831,503
Return: 692% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Winter's Bone (2010)

Awards

The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award
Sundance Film Festival U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize Award
National Board of Review: Top Ten Films

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Debra Granik

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Andres Gomez2014-12-02
★ 8/10
Really good thriller/drama. Cast and direction are impressive, the script is round and the depicting of the surroundings is really genuine.
CinemaSerf2025-01-25
★ 7/10
There are some really plausible performances in this quite chilling drama. It's all about "Ree" (Jennifer Lawrence) whose life is turned upside down when her dad uses their mountain-side home as collateral for a bail bond, then promptly skips the scene. "Ree" is left in the lurch, made worse by having to care for her clinically depressed mother and her younger brother and sister. Now she knows that he's mixed up with a local, pretty lucrative, meth lab and so not only might they be facing eviction but with his absconding, what little cash the family did have has dried up too. Luckily, neighbour "Sonya" (Shelley Waggener) chips in to help them out but she's still got to find "Jessup" and that's going to involve dealing with uncle "Teardrop" (John Hawkes) of whom she's pretty terrified. When folks start to think he's dead, or left the state, she finds the clock ticking and the dense Ozark terrain presenting quite a challenge if she is to track him down. It's not the greatest or most original of stories but Lawrence and Hawkes deliver strongly and the gorgeous photography amidst the ancient woodlands - complete with some creative audio effects and a score that does engender some degree of menace - all build to quite a potent climax. It perhaps doesn't show off the finer sides of their rural community as moonshine has clearly been succeeded on the ladder of valuable illicit commodities, and those involved in the manufacture and distribution of this new drug are quite prepared to do what is necessary to keep their supply chain going - with few scruples!