Winter's Bone and Georgia O'Keefe

Winter’s Bone is a little movie about a group of impoverished people living in the Ozarks whose life is corrupted by a community of scary kin who cook meth. In the center of this mess is a girl whose father is missing and his failure to show up for court will lead to the family losing their land. Ree (played by previously unknown to me, Jennifer Lawrence) is responsible for her younger brother and sister and her mute and sketchy mother. This amazing girl, Ree, stomps through the treeless winter hills with a stubborn purpose while encountering some seriously freaky people, one of whom is her own uncle, her father’s brother. At first it is hard to tell whose side her uncle(played by John Hawkes from Deadwood), strangely named teardrop, is on. But Ree unflinchingly carries on – trying to figure out what has become of her father. I liked this movie for a couple of reasons: Ree is interesting to watch and it not obvious where this movie is heading– happily no Hollywood blueprint to follow.

I also recently saw the Lifetime TV movie, Georgia O’Keefe. You’d think a movie starring two heavy hitters like Jeremy Irons and Joan Allen would be impressive, but it was actually kind of bland. Still, I enjoyed learning about the artist and her older lover, the photographer, Aurthur Stieglitz, who according to this movie was kind of a jerk. Despite interesting fodder for a movie, Georgia O’Keefe fell flat.