d. Debra Granik

c. Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Lauren Sweetser

A tour-de-force performance by Jennifer Lawrence saves this bleak and colorless film from becoming a cousin to scores of movies that depict backwoods country living in derogatory terms.

The story centers around Ree (Lawrence) whose father has used their home and property as bail bond and then flees leaving her to search for him in order to prevent the state from throwing the remainder of her family ( a mentally ill mother and 2 very young siblings) out into the brutal Ozark cold.

Ree’s determination does not go un-noticed by her extended family ( apparently everyone in the Ozarks is related in some form or another) and she finds herself in murky, dangerous situations trying to save the only home she has ever known.

Director Granik used local people and their homes to make this film giving it an authenticity that is hard to ignore or forget. The performances are honest, the women are mean and the winter cold that envelops the story and the characters radiates from the screen.

I liked it but would not want to see it again.