Winter’s Bone [2010]

Something we don’t see often: a drama that seems real, that sounds and looks and feels authentic. The characters are frightening and everything seems to have an air of imminent danger around it. Jennifer Lawrence plays Ree Dolly, an incredibly brave teenager, forced to grow up fast, after her mother’s mental illness and his father’s criminal ways leave her in charge of her family. Lawrence’s work is outstanding but, to me, it actually pales in comparison to her astonishing performance in The Burning Plain. Anyway, as a chilling drama, it works. Trailer trash has never been scarier.