While the deafening Oscar buzz around newcomer Jennifer Lawrence's performance in Winter's Bone is more than warranted - here's a breakthrough performance that's already doing for her what The Hurt Locker did for Jeremy Renner - she's not the only stand-out in Debra Granik's terrific adaptation of Daniel Woodrell's novel*.
As Ree Dolly's volatile, drug-abusing uncle Teardrop, Eastbound & Down's John Hawkes provides a blistering mix of sudden violence and conflicted loyalties that threatens her desperate attempts to track down her missing father. And, as this short but pivotal scene demonstrates, he packs enough menace to recall Dennis Hopper at his most unhinged.
Set amid the rusting trailer parks and extreme poverty of the Midwest's Ozark Mountains, Winter's Bone is a slow-burning thriller that twists, turns and leaves an indelible impression. Read Empire's review here and hunt it down when it's released on September 17.
Winter's Bone isn't the first adaptation of a Woodrell novel, fact fans. Woe to Live On came to the screen as Ang Lee's Ride With The Devil.