Winter’s Bone ☕ d. Debra Granik, 2010

I’m not the first person to make this observation, but it bears repeating – Winter’s Bone does for the Ozarks what The Wire did for Baltimore: illustrate a deep-seated web of corruption and moral ambivalence so pervasive that the usual notions of right, wrong, and legal are subordinated to the oldest law in the universe — survival.  Cowriter/director Debra Granik doesn’t waste time decrying how broken the law enforcement system is; she doesn’t really even waste her breath on condemning the criminals and villains of this backwoods jungle.  Instead, the film is a passive feat of empathy extended toward a single individual who has no chance of escaping this hellish muck.

Hey, Lars – where’s the grace?

Lars von Trier enjoys making movies that are a little on-the-nose.  Some might say he enjoys giving viewers a punch in the nose.  Even more might say they want to punch him in the nose.  Leave it to von Trier to make a movie called Antichrist and set it in a place called (are you ready for it?) “Eden.”

Is your nose sore yet?