Down to the Bone

'Down to the Bone' is a mirror depiction of the lower-to-middle class struggle to keep clean while trying to overcome the perils of poverty and raise a family. It is not your typical run-of-the-mill addiction story either, revealing the darker sides of the problem and focusing on the lives it so often can tear apart. Vera Farmiga was the shining star in this role as Irene, a mother of two trying to keep her cocaine addiction a secret and save a marriage on the rocks. At 'Sundance' Vera took home 'The Special Jury Prize' for her performance and Director Debra Granik won the 'Director's Award.' It's no wonder that Martin Scorsese went out of his way to get her for her upcoming role in "The Departed." She is and will be a great actress in Hollywood for years to come. I look forward to her success in the future.

I just watched this film the other night and was very impressed with Vera Farmigas performance and the direction of the film. I never heard of the movie, I saw it at Best Buy and just bought it based on Vera Farmiga being in the film. The movie isn't a masterpiece but it is a great film and should be watched, if you are into independent movies or these type of movies. It is a low budget independent film that feels more realistic because of the way it was shot. Highly recommended. Vera Farmiga is definitely one to watch. Look forward to seeing her in other things. If you can find it at a rental store rent it. If not find it for sale and buy it well Worth it. It was only 14.99 at Best Buy.

This movie telegraphs its tone in the first minute -- as others have pointed out, it's not exactly breezy. But it is well worth making the commitment to watch.

Farmiga's performance has integrity and guts, especially when she's interacting with the kids, but all her interactions with the secondary characters have a compelling spark of reality to them. She uses her whole body to say a line, the way real people sometimes do, especially when under stress. As in her other works, she commands every scene she's in. It's nice to see her own an entire film.

I felt the same subversive sweetness under the surface that many classic, superbly observed films seem to share, along with an astringently dry humor and personality, while remaining almost unrelentingly bleak on the surface. I found the final ten seconds particularly satisfying.

I had the opportunity to see this film again at the Florida Film Festival (after having seen it screened at Sundance), and I have to say even though I was watching the film for a 2nd time, I still found myself completely engaged in the narrative. The film was awarded the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature. At times, I nearly forgot that I was watching a film. Vera Farmiga gives a powerful and evocative performance, which must rank among the best in her career. Down to the Bone seems rooted in the cinematic schools of Cinema Verite and Neo-Realism, and the Director, Debra Granik, obviously seems devoted to the idea of making a film without the usual Hollywood bells and whistles. So, the film depicts the bleakness of drug addiction, but without sensationalizing it with the usual tropes: Overdoses, guns, car chases, etc...

The end of the film is left ambiguous, which forces the filmviewer to forego the simplicities of a stock ending; the audience is given the ability to draw their own conclusions. Your choice--does the film have a happy ending or not? Of course, this is not too dissimilar to the dilemmas that people face in real life.

This film is certainly not for everyone. It demands the focus and attention of the filmgoer. As such, Down to the Bone is geared more to the committed and sophisticated cinema enthusiast. The film features a minimalist soundtrack, from which it is difficult to draw the obvious emotive clues. The cinematography is original, as the viewer is exposed to a seemingly endless palette of grays. However, it is not an "easy" film to watch--there is no "eye candy" for the viewer.

Debra Granik's Feature Film Directoral debut shows tremendous promise, and I look forward to her future projects. I rate this film as very good: a 9 out of 10. Frankly, I'm at a loss in understanding why a dozen of IMDB users have rated this film just as a "2". Can the Film Juries at Sundance and Florida be so off the mark? I guess that the cliche is true: there really is no accounting for taste!

Farmiga in one of her earlier works (and the earliest work I've ever seen from her) is just mesmerizing. At this point to rave about her is to say the expected, but she plays a different sort of character in this one, not quite something I'd seen her do before and so she does things differently but also is fearless in a very compromising, familiar way. She's riveting to watch, and that's the beauty of her acting in pretty much everything I see her in. The supporting cast also does some fine work, but no one could hold a candle to Farmiga, or even try to really. Also interesting to see Debra Granik from Winter's Bone and how she grew to become an even better filmmaker.