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Winter's Bone

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  • Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The fever dream, representing Ree's fears about losing the house. The surrealism and symbolism jibes with the gritty, documentary-like tone of the rest of the movie
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • Even though initially Jennifer Lawrence got all of the attention for her performance, John Hawkes' performance as Teardrop gained a large amount of fans, and he eventually received a surprise Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
    • Ree's best friend Gail is a very well-liked secondary character due to how much help she provides to Ree, even though she has some interesting issues of her own to deal with.

    • Ree's little brothers are two of the best-liked characters of the original novel (one of them gets a Gender Flip, and both get fewer scenes and lines in the film) due to the scenes of Ree educating them about how to make their way in the world while trying to keep them from being put in a path to the drug trade like Jessup, while they get some cute protective moments of their own toward her.
  • Heartwarming Moments: Teardrop giving the chicks to Ree's siblings to take care of. Especially poignant, given the sheer hell of the rest of the movie.
  • Les Yay: Ree and her friend Gail in the book, where they practiced kissing each other when they were younger.
  • Squick:
    • After being led to her father's body, submerged in a swamp, Ree has to hold his hands while another person cuts them off with a chainsaw, as she has to present the hands to the police to prove that her father is dead and get the bond released.
    • Ree teaching her siblings how to skin a squirrel carcass.
  • Stoic Woobie: Ree, so very, very much.

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