17-year-old Ree Dolly searches the meth country of the Ozarks for her missing father. He put up their house as collateral for his bail bond before he disappeared. To find him, she has to get through a community held together by silence, loyalty and the threat of violence. Debra Granik's film is a neo-noir, a modern take on the dark crime film, set in the mountains of Missouri.
Winter's Bone is a 2010 drama, mystery and thriller film directed by Debra Granik. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (2 cinematography and 2 narrative), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Nomadland uses several of the same techniques.
Using specific working-class parts of a city, like its bars, docks and construction sites, to define the characters. The places show who they are expected to be and what leaving would cost.
How this film uses it
Granik shoots the Ozarks with the detail of a documentary maker. You see the actual trailers, the actual woods and the actual way a poor rural community is put together. The location tells you more about Ree's world than any dialogue written to explain it could.
Where to see it
Ree's family home. The bare yard and the small children she is responsible for are all there. The film photographs the look of poverty as exactly as a social documentary would.
Watching events from a measured distance with no swelling music, tear-jerking close-ups or showy camera moves. The film trusts what happens to carry the weight on its own.
How this film uses it
Granik films the community's code of silence without explaining it (the refusals, the warnings, the doors that close). She trusts you to understand that people stay silent to survive, because in this community, talking can get you killed.
Where to see it
Every door closed in Ree's face. The refusals pile up, and the film never explains the network of obligation and threat behind them. The silence tells you more than a confession would.
Casting real people from the community being shown, such as workers and local residents, with no trained actors in those roles. Their looks and behavior feel true in a way acting can't copy.
How this film uses it
Granik cast many people from the actual Ozarks community, including the musicians, the neighbors and the people who fill the background. Having the real people there gives the film's social world a texture that professional extras can't copy.
Where to see it
The community gatherings where neighbors play music and ignore Ree's questions. The non-professional cast behaves like people who know this world from the inside. That is how the community's indifference comes across.
Shooting with a handheld camera so the frame shakes and moves with the action. This documentary-style look, called cinema vérité, puts you uncomfortably close to the character.
How this film uses it
Michael McDonough shoots Ree's investigation with a restrained handheld camera. It stays close to her body without getting shaky. The camera feels more like a companion than an observer, and the documentary look tells you how seriously the film takes her search.
Where to see it
Ree going from door to door among her kin to ask about her father. The camera stays with her at eye level. The winter landscape makes the search feel as cold and difficult as it is.
Questions
Winter's Bone: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Winter's Bone use?
CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Winter's Bone (2010): Working-Class Geography, Observational Restraint, Non-Professional Cast Authenticity and Handheld Cinema Vérité.
Who directed Winter's Bone?
Debra Granik directed Winter's Bone, released in 2010. CineCode also covers Leave No Trace (2018).
What films are similar to Winter's Bone?
Films that share techniques with Winter's Bone include Nomadland (2020), The Florida Project (2017), Moonlight (2016), 12 Years a Slave (2013).
