Debra Granik’s film of the novel by Daniel Woodrell offers a bleak world and an engaging 17-year-old heroine, Ree Dolly. She’s not fighting (or kissing) vampires, she’s not wondering what boys think of her and she’s not shopping. Ree (played with finesse and grace by the amazing Jennifer Lawrence) takes care of her younger siblings and her mentally ill mother, dreams of joining the Army as a solution to her problems and needs to find her missing ne’er-do-well father really badly.

The film is full of women and there’s not a Manolo to be seen. The women aren’t made up and airbrushed. They come in all shapes and sizes—and personalities. While each one is memorable and distinct (how many mainstream films can you say that about?), perhaps the most striking character of all is the matriarch Merab, played with terrifying realism by Dale Dickey. The interactions between Ree and Merab are shot so full of tension that you could hear the audience not breathing in the theatre. Winter’s Bone was the first movie in eons that I had no idea where it would go, but I couldn’t wait to find out…

Read more: http://culture.bitchbuzz.com/winters-bone-the-anti-chic-flick.html#ixzz0yOBqbl81

I also saw Coco & Igor yesterday with Peg. If I get a chance, I’ll write that up, too. This first week of classes is a bit hectic despite the not teaching, mostly because there’s a whole lot of other things going on as well (of course), some of which I’ll share with you very soon. Let me give you a head’s up that tomorrow I’m guest blogging over at Sia McKye’s, talking about making book trailers and what I’ve learned. Drop by and comment.

I got a new phone 🙂 Never took to the last one: it didn’t help that it dropped calls all the time. I sprang for unlimited data as well, sigh. Now I can tweet without wifi.