Granik's 'Winter's Bone' a hit in Baltimore

Debra Granik's "Winter's Bone," a profound movie about a girl testing herself against Ozarks tribal codes, has a vise-like grip and a moving payoff. It drew crowds to the Charles opening weekend. If you want your cup of Americana brewed strong this July 4th weekend, check out this adaptation of Daniel Woodrell's superb novel about a teenager named Ree (the great Jennifer Lawrence, above), who must find her crystal meth-cooking dad or lose the house she lives in with two young siblings and a helpless mother. Drawing on parts of my interview with Granik that didn't make it into my Live piece last Friday, here are three good reasons to see it.

1. Dale Dickey gives the best female performance so far this year as a menacing, frightfully competent southwestern-Missouri matriarch named Merab. She's capable of brutal evil and equally brutal good.

Granik told me, "Dale has roots in Eastern Tennessee, even though she's working from Los Angeles. She would tell me, 'Debra, I have aunts with names like Billy Irene.' She's the real deal. Her level of understanding makes such a difference. The way Dale plays her, Merab does have a conscience, she is a sentient person. She hears Ree's problem and witnesses the fact that she is baring herself and pleading for the family and can't plead any harder. I enjoyed the process of seeing what humanity Meirab does have and working with Dale to extract that.

2. The suspense comes from questions of culture and character, not arbitrary tricks; even when enigmatic figures say stuff like "I tried to help you," they mean it.

Granik explains, simply, "I don't see a lot of films with palpable bad guys. My Netflix homework is on a different spectrum!"

3. Jennifer Lawrence is magnetic as Ree.

Granik says that "the guide" through a story like this, "must be someone who can lure the audience to come along with her.  We are drawn into her actions and her acting by a form of wonder -- trying to observe her, wondering what her next move is. It takes an actress like Jen, who will stay very present for everything, even though it's an arduous process. To be in every scene is just a tall order. There's no lull. Every day you have to engage at full throttle. She literally had the stamina to be in those scenes to the full capacity that she's able. There is always  something in her eyes or in her movement that draws you. Even that she just won't go away -- even that starts to have a palpable impact. It also engenders rooting for someone, seeing that tireless effort. The fact that she's doing real tasks, pounding up hills, taking no short cuts. It's wasn't like she got driven to one spot and walked off and was dropped off at another. She was truly marching around. Same with skinning the squirrels."

My question to you: Granik has complained of coastal America's dominance of American movies. When was the last time you saw a really good film set in Arkansas or Missouri? (I fondly remember the televangelism parody "Pass the Ammo" and the character study "Chrystal," and I know many love "Sling Blade.")