Best Picture Nominees 2011

Winter's Bone
Indie to the core, this film version of Daniel Woodrell's 2006 novel won four Oscar nominations: for picture, actress (Jennifer Lawrence), supporting actor (John Hawkes) and adapted screenplay. It's easy to see why. Spare and severe in its depiction of a deranged clan of Ozark criminals, the film plants in their midst an improbably poised and resourceful 16-year-old girl, Ree Dolly (Lawrence), out to solve the mystery of her father's disappearance. Ree is True Grit's Mattie Ross with a twangier accent — enough to endear her to some Academy members but not enough to snag Best Picture.

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