Winter's Bone band

My interview with Marideth Sisco about the Winter's Bone band is online at Exclaim.ca

Marideth Sisco and Blackberry Winter Bring the Music of the Ozarks to Canada on 'Winter's Bone' Tour

News Jun 02 2011

By Andrea Warner


It's been about 60 years in the making, but Marideth Sisco is finally where she always wanted to be: on stage in the spotlight, out in front of the band, singing. If it sounds like something straight out of a Hollywood movie, well, it is. Sort of.

Sisco's sudden stardom is all thanks to a brief but memorable scene in the Academy Award-nominated film Winter's Bone, a bleakly dazzling coming-of-age drama set in the isolated Ozarks mountains region. During her scouting phase a few years before filming began, writer/director Debra Granik asked to hear some traditional Ozarks music and met Sisco and her band, collectively known as Blackberry Winter. Now, four years later, the group are embarking on the Winter's Bone tour, an international adventure that will take them out of the Ozarks and throughout North America. Sisco admits that even now, the whole experience is still as surreal as when it started.

"We were just playin' in some body's house and these folks came in, said they were doin' a movie and wanted to hear some Ozarks music, so we played 'em some and they went on their way and we didn't hear a peep from 'em for two years," Sisco laughs during a recent interview with Exclaim! "Then one night I got a call and they said, 'We just can't get that one song out of our heads. Could you do it for the movie?' And I was thinkin' record it for the movie and said, 'Yeah, I guess I could do that.' They said, 'That's good, 'cause we got a scene written in the movie for you.' I said, 'Oh my god.' That's how it started. It just never quite quit."

It's a rapid rise to fame after a lifetime spent resigning herself to not making money from her music. Sisco was three when her great uncle taught her to sing, encouraging her to perform on the spot whenever she could. She studied classical music in school, but found herself bumping heads with sexist '60s sentiment.

"I decided I would go into orchestral work, but then the school I was going to told me that was nonsense, I was a woman, I'd never be able to make a living at that, so I would have to be a music teacher," Sisco recalls. "I said, 'To hell with ya!' and left school and went to California and played music for about ten years."

But her career never took off and Sisco is matter-of-fact about the challenges.

"I discovered, after long soul searching, that I was never going to be pretty enough to be up front and I had way too much ego to be in the back, so I better find myself something to make a living with that I could actually do and be happy with," she says.

Sisco went back to school and pursued a degree in journalism, eventually leaving California and spending 20 years as a newspaper reporter. But she never forgot about her first love and didn't need to look far for someone who shared her interests. At the desk across from her was sports editor Dennis Cryder, her longtime collaborator and friend, who played guitar in the film and is a part of Blackberry Winter.

"I've always needed to sing, I've always needed to be absorbed in music one way or another, so that was a way of keeping me happy and doin' what I love the best, but it wasn't anything to make money with," Sisco says. "I just sort of forgot about the money-makin' side and concentrated on being able to put together some good music. The only time we would play out in public is this old time festival in June here, until the movie."

The movie's soundtrack renewed interest in traditional music, not unlike the revival sparked by the O Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack in 2000. Now, the band are fresh out of the studio, having crafted their own album, which Sisco hopes to have in hand by the time they reach the Waldorf Cabaret in Vancouver, their first Canadian stop, on Friday (June 3). She's jokingly named this the Amazing Geriatric Hilbilly tour, but she admits she's excited to bring the sounds of the Ozarks to the rest of the world, one city at a time.

"Two years ago if you told me I'd be doin' this, I'd of laughed out loud," Sisco says. "It's a pretty ambitious undertaking for a bunch of old folks, but we're sure having fun at it."

You can see Blackberry Winter's entire North American tour schedule here and get more information about the Vancouver concert here.

Movies look back and look ahead

My favourite movie from 2010 and the movie I'm most looking forward to in 2011 in this week's WE!

Best movie of 2010: Winter’s Bone

Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone.
This bleak masterpiece earned every single accolade it received — and there were several. Using Daniel Woodrell’s novel as source material, writer-director Debra Granik trekked a film crew deep into Missouri’s Ozark Mountains to tell the story of 17-year-old Ree, a girl racing against the clock to keep her family together. Granik’s artistic eye spares nothing in her unflinching account of a community ravaged by poverty and drugs. Watching Ree navigate the terrain and its various dark characters proves a tense, disturbing, and ultimately rewarding coming-of-age drama.

Most anticipated movie of 2011: The Skin That I Inhabit (La piel que habito)

Pedro Almodóvar directs Antonio Banderas on the set of The Skin That I Inhabit (La piel que habito).
Pedro Almodóvar has made a career out of crafting gorgeous-looking, often gloriously over-the-top films that are never short on story or emotional complexity. In his latest — a quasi-horror flick — the director taps one of the actors whose career he helped launch, Antonio Banderas, as a plastic surgeon hellbent on revenge. If Almodóvar can work the same magic he has in the past with Penélope Cruz, this moody romp may give Banderas the career revival he so richly deserves.

Winter's Bone review and Jennifer Lawrence sidebar

My review of Winter's Bone accompanies a brief sidebar interview with Jennifer Lawrence in Calgary's Fast Forward Weekly.

Winter’s Bone chills

Backwoods drama earns its Sundance-driven hype
Published July 8, 2010 by Andrea Warner in Film Reviews

Debra Granik’s art-house gem, Winter’s Bone, has amassed an impressive array of prestigious film festival awards on its way to the multiplex. And, while a film’s buzz is often just hype, occasionally the accolades are justified. Count Winter’s Bone, based on Daniel Woodrell’s novel of the same name, among those that have earned the praise.

Ree (Jennifer Lawrence, a wonderful discovery) is just 17 years old and a world away from those preening Disney teen queens. Instead of attending school, she’s tasked with caring for her young brother, sister and mentally ill mother. When Ree finds out her father has put their house up for his bond, she must find him before his court date or they’ll lose their home.

She embarks on a tense trek through the Ozarks, which serves as a beautifully bleak backdrop to a methamphetamine-ravaged rural community bound by manufacturing, dealing and indulging in the drug trade. Everyone knows something but no one’s talking, not even Ree’s uncle, Teardrop (John Hawkes), who becomes an unlikely ally of his niece as she navigates the mountainside. As Ree digs deeper into the mystery surrounding her father’s disappearance, Winter’s Bone takes on elements of a film noir, and every door she knocks on feels like a perilous step closer to the precipice.

Granik, who also co-wrote the script, has a keen eye that lingers over the smallest details (a slowly melting icicle, an animal carcass) and creates an authentic experience in every scene by relying on locals in supporting roles rather than professional actors. The children, particularly, offer strong, natural performances, no matter what’s asked (a memorable scene involves turning a squirrel into dinner). In taking the time to stay true to the environment and circumstances of the impoverished subjects of her film, Granik shows, without judgment, the harsh realities of survival.

Her professional actors are equally committed to the task. Hawkes, a lanky, desperate-looking man, embodies Teardrop wholeheartedly. The actor, so wonderful in the quirky 2004 flick, Me and You and Everyone We Know, tempers Teardrop’s innate violence with underlying humanity.

Lawrence, only 19 years old, is absolutely fearless, and delivers a fully realized character coming of age in unfathomable circumstances. Ree is quite possibly the most assured portrait of youthful competence and resilience ever committed to celluloid. Her currency is intelligence and instinct, rooted in necessity, a refreshing concept in the vast wasteland of Hollywood’s typical depiction of teenage girls.

The Wizard of Ozark

Jennifer Lawrence may not be a household name yet, but her star-making role as the heroine of Winter’s Bone will definitely change that. Here’s a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what life in the Ozarks was really like for Lawrence.

Your relationship with the local children who played your siblings seemed very natural.

I was a nanny and a babysitter and I'm naturally drawn to children much more than adults (laughs). We started slowly, introducing the camera and played a game called “hide your eyes from the camera,” because they loved to look at the camera. And then [we] just kind of created a make-believe world.

Did you feel a lot of pressure being the anchor of the film?

It was tough, because I'm in every scene and I didn't get any downtime at all. But you don't really notice, or at least I don't, because I'm not a butthead that I'm the anchor of the film. We were all collaborating and making a movie. I just happened to be more tired than everyone.

The accolades you’re receiving must feel good. Are the offers pouring in?

Yes. A lot of offers. And a few for comedies, too. I'm like, '”Have you seen the movie?”

Winter's Bone

My piece on Winter's Bone features interviews with director Debra Granik and star Jennifer Lawrence.

Jennifer Lawrence, who plays lead character Ree in the award-winning "Winter’s Bone," credits director Debra Granik for the film’s artistic success. “She asks a lot of questions, which is rare for a director, unfortunately.”

Credit: supplied

Bleak realism key to power of ‘Winter’s Bone’

Posted By: Andrea Warner

06/23/2010 12:00 AM

Writer-director Debra Granik may not be a well-known name, but the buzz bolstering her third and latest film, the critically acclaimed and Sundance award-winning Winter’s Bone, should start to change that. A bleak but beautiful art-house flick, it’s been almost universally lauded as the best film of 2010 thus far — an impressive feat considering it features a cast mostly made up of unknowns and locals from the Ozarks in Missouri, and tackles the subject of backwoods methamphetamine manufacturing and addiction.

Adapted from Daniel Woodrell’s novel of the same name, Winter’s Bone (opening Friday, June 25) exposes the ravaging effects drugs can have in rural areas, particularly as it becomes virtually impossible to eke out a living from the land alone.

“Surface economies are living in what would be categorically poverty, because it’s not a sustainable way of earning money,” Granik says, over the phone from New York City. “It’s too little, too slow, and variable; it evaporates and closes up and under-employs people... But it always shocks me... trying to be involved or make money from drugs. It’s so unglamorous. It’s weird that so many films have glamorous depictions.”

There’s nothing glamorous about Winter’s Bone. Filmed on location, Granik fully captures the Ozarks’ isolation and rustic beauty, rendered by careful camera work and a lingering, interested eye. It also showcases, without judgment, the barbed-wire loyalty and tension that exists in communities built on survival-by-any-means.

The character of 17-year-old Ree, who is Bone’s beating heart, epitomizes that survival instinct. Already tasked with raising her young brother and sister, and caring for her mentally ill mother, Ree discovers her father has skipped out on his bail — and put their house and land up as his bond. With his court date fast approaching, Ree has to go knocking on some very dark doors to try to get to the bottom of his disappearance and save the family home.

Jennifer Lawrence, the relatively unknown 19-year-old Kentuckian who skillfully portrays Ree, is as frank and direct as the character she plays. She refuses to consider the assertion that her performance anchors the film (because she’s “not a butthead”), but admits that the accolades — and subsequent work offers — pouring in are gratifying, particularly since she considers having played Ree an opportunity to connect with traits she admires in real life. “I like that she doesn’t take no for an answer, and I like that she doesn’t consider failure,” Lawrence says. “I really respect people like that.”

Ree’s strength was also part of what drew Granik to the project. “It’s a good feeling to see a female on screen and be able to root for them and feel like they’re competent, that they’ve got resources and they’re going to use them in different ways,” she says.

Granik was also interested in turning the “so-called coming-of-age story” on its head. “It’s very class driven, how you come of age — like Charles Dickens depicting scrappy kids in London, and it didn’t matter what their education was because they were always learning, either from the streets or elders. You don’t always get a chance to choose who you learn from either. You may learn from criminals, but you don’t have to be one.”

It might be this kind of thoughtfulness Lawrence refers to when she talks about Granik’s attention to detail during filming, from focusing the cinematographer on an icicle melting to depicting the actual skinning and eating of a squirrel. “She’s tremendous,” Lawrence says. “She’s very emotionally accessible. She asks a lot of questions, which is rare for a director, unfortunately.”

Which isn’t to say shooting went off without any hitches. Lawrence admits Granik’s process was occasionally unfathomable. “She has an artistic eye that I have to admit was hard to understand when we were filming, but when I saw the movie I was blown away,” she says. “I remember some of the things she thought were really important at the time [that] I just thought were annoying. Like, ‘Let’s just wrap! Who cares?’ But when I see it, I just think, can you imagine if she didn’t make me do that again? I don’t know if I’ve ever met anybody else who’s got a brain like her.”