Winter's Bone

Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini adapted Daniel Woodrell’s 2006 novel. Nothing in the Ozarks was built for the camera: the shoot used real houses on real land, and a local guide, Richard Michael, opened doors. Ashlee Thompson, who plays Ree’s 6-year-old sister, acted in her own home, because the property they filmed on belonged to her family. Jennifer Lawrence spent a week with that family before shooting began. She cut the squirrel open herself and says she could not eat spaghetti for a long time afterwards. The shoot ran 25.5 days and the crew stayed about 6 weeks. At Sundance it took the Grand Jury Prize for drama and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, and at the Gotham Awards it won Best Feature and Best Ensemble Performance. The 83rd Academy Awards nominated it for picture, actress, supporting actor and adapted screenplay, and it lost all four. When the nominations were announced it had the smallest domestic gross of the 10 Best Picture nominees, 6.2 million dollars against a 2 million budget. A good fit if you want a search that moves relative by relative and door by door, with poverty shown rather than staged. Not for anyone waiting for a culprit to be named and punished; what Ree carries home is not a suspect but evidence for the court.