Ree (Jennifer Lawrence) is an amazing individual. At age 17, she is mother and father to her two younger siblings, Sonny (Isaiah Stone) and Ashlee (Ashlee Thompson), and caregiver for her catatonic mother. With the help of friends and neighbors, she is able to hold things together for her family with little money and minimal help from the outside. She lives by the mantra: Never ask for something that should be offered. She exists not for herself, but for others, and her personal dreams and desires have been subordinated to the needs of her sister, brother, and mother. She wants to join the army not because it's her heart's desire but because the $40,000 signing bonus wouls be a windfall for her cash-strapped family. But there are more immediate problems. Her father Jessup, a meth cooker whose adult life has been punctuated by run-ins with the cops, was recently arrested and, in order to get out on bail, he put his house up as collateral. Once free, he disappeared becoming, in the parlance of the bondsman searching for him, a runner. Now, Ree must locate Jessup and, if he is dead, prove that he no longer walks the planet, or be turned out of her house. No one in the area is willing to talk openly about what might have happened to the man, including his brother, Teardrop (John Hawkes), who warns Ree that poking around in the wrong places could get her killed. Everywhere she goes, she is met by stony silence and unfriendly glares. The one man who may hold the key to revealing Jessup's whereabouts, whether above or below ground, will say nothing because talking just causes witnesses.
Director:
Debra Granik
Year:
2010
Country:
US
Cast:
Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Garret Dillahunt
Classification:
M
Certification:
VL