It’s so great that we have a whole other independent film industry running alongside Hollywood. Films like “Frozen River”, “Fargo” and now “Winter’s Bone” remind us that there is a major cross-section of the US that is worlds apart from the glitz and glamour that typical Hollywood movies tend to focus on. This was the epitome of an indie film, with a simple story and most importantly, very realistic. Surprisingly, I was quite engaged with this film, unlike my experiences into other monotone, slow-paced indie movies. There has been much Oscar buzz surrounding this film, but imho this has little chance for the exact qualities highlighted above. Firstly, I think the movie was too simple for it to stand out against the wide selection of films this year, so I highly doubt it will get into the Best Picture game. Also, the “experts” say that Jennifer Lawrence is one of the top contenders for Best Actress, but once again, I don’t think her performance was “showy” enough for her to make the cut. This is a competitive year for best actress and while she did a great job, I can’t see her edging out the host of big names floating around (Nicole Kidman, Natalie Portman, Diane Lane, Hilary Swank etc.). Overall, there wasn’t anything wrong with the movie, on the contrary, it was damn good. I do feel however that leads itself to be easily forgotten (like "The Messenger" and "Crazy Heart" last year) among the plethora of good films this year.
