On a Scale of 1-10 With 10 Being the Best
6
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Plot: A 17-year-old girl named Ree, is basically raising her family when one day she receives troubling news. Her drug-addicted dad missed his court date which means her house will be taken as his bail. She has to travel across the town, located in the Ozark Mountains, to find him. She runs into trouble with those who used to sell drugs or buy drugs from her dad later on and a mystery has to be solved, Where is Ree's dad? This movie is labeled a "thriller" but consider it more of a drama. The pace at the beginning of this movie is the same throughout the film, which is not a thriller quality.
Characters/Actors of Note:
Jennifer Lawrence playing Ree: I am kind of noticing a trend with Jennifer's characters. They are usually dry, non-emotional, and talk pretty quiet. You can see this in Silver Lining Playbook, The Hunger Games, and the X-Men: Days of Future Past. I wasn't too awestruck with this character and actually found a lot of the characters to be the same way. They are all quiet, country, with some trashy nature in them. I do like Jennifer Lawrence but this performance just wasn't anything new to me. She didn't have much dialogue to go off of and you understood that she was desperate and determined, just like her other characters. Sorry, Jennifer I just wasn't impressed.
John Hawkes playing Teardrop: This character was different from the others, kind of. Teardrop is Ree's uncle. He was country, quiet, and trashy, and he was addicted to drugs. What I liked about this character is that he went from this rude lone wolf, to a less rude father figure for Ree. When Ree was in trouble, he found her and got her out. Then he helped her solve the problem and later got chicks (Not ladies but baby chickens) as a gift for the family. At the end, Ree offers him an object which he denies as he is on a mission that he may not come back from, which shows he is finally taking responsibility. This character grew in at least one aspect and the other characters did not. That is why he is my favorite character in this movie.
Music: The only times they had music in this movie was when people were actually playing and singing it. Otherwise this movie was dead silent. It wasn't too bad without it though and the music they had was Southern, which I like. I hate when movies have that scary violin music when something is about to happen and the silence prevented that from happening. I suppose the point was to just focus on the story and not the mood.
Camera Work/Cinematography: This movie is very much grey and blue. It is supposed to be winter during this time and it doesn't really snow there. It kind of gets icy and wet and I guess the cinematographers wanted the audience to feel like they were in winter. I got tired of those colors though and at times got bored with the movie. It just didn't catch your eye. Although, when the story is about trashy people, I suppose it isn't supposed to catch your eye.
RECAP:
The movie is dark and cold to look at. It isn't as much as a thriller as it is labeled, there are no chase scenes between the villain and bad guy (as there isn't really a bad guy). There are no clues to find. There are no real people to get information from. What there is, is a story about a girl who is trying to keep her family together despite all the frustrations of others and her own frustrating qualities (such as not having a car to drive). I liked the uncle and niece relationship as it grew. This movie also wasn't predictable and it didn't get stupid with, "I shall avenge my father! Roar!" Ree did what was needed to be done to keep her family together. I'd watch it again but for the drama aspect.
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