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Movies / On DVD / Down to the Bone
Down to the Bone

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Down to the Bone (2004)

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Reviews Counted:30

Fresh:28

Rotten:2

Average Rating:7.6/10

Consensus: A vivid portrayal of the effects of drug abuse that avoids cinematic clichés, Down to the Bone is a winning effort by first-time director Debra Granik and features a breakout performance by Vera Farmiga.

Runtime: 1 hr 44 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Last year's Sundance Film Festival honored DOWN TO THE BONE with two high-profile, prestigious and extremely competitive awards: Best Director and A Special Jury Prize for acting. A stellar entry... Last year's Sundance Film Festival honored DOWN TO THE BONE with two high-profile, prestigious and extremely competitive awards: Best Director and A Special Jury Prize for acting. A stellar entry in the Dramatic Competition, writer/director Debra Granik, in her feature film debut, and actress Vera Farmiga became the talk of the Festival and the indie film community. In DOWN TO THE BONE, Irene (Vera Farmiga) is a working class mother living in upstate New York. She struggles to keep her marriage together and raise two sons while keeping her cocaine addiction a secret. After a series of nearly fatal mishaps, and finally hoping to make a change in her life, she decides to check herself into a rehab center. She knows kicking the habit would be tough, but the experience proves even more difficult than she could have anticipated. There, she meets and falls in love with a fellow reformed addict (Hugh Dillon). When one of them falls into a relapse with the addiction, their commitment to staying clean - and to each other - shatters. This beautifully wrought film accurately and authentically explores the wrenching road of recovery without ever resorting to histrionics. DOWN TO THE BONE is based upon Debra Granik's 1997 short film, "Snake Feed," which won the Sundance Film Festival's Short Filmmaking Award in 1998. --© Laemmle/Zeller Films [More]

Starring: Vera Farmiga, Hugh Dillon, Clint Jordan, Caridad De La Luz

Starring: Vera Farmiga, Hugh Dillon, Clint Jordan, Caridad De La Luz

Director: Debra Granik

Director: Debra Granik
Producer: Susan Leber

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Reviews for Down to the Bone

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1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z; UK critics are listed first)
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Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
05/22/04
Andrew Pulver
Andrew Pulver
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

... a stark, realistic portrait of a working-class mother in New York's depressed Ulster County as she tries to battle a drug habit.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
11/28/05
Jami Bernard
Jami Bernard
New York Daily News

This downbeat story of blue-collar drug abuse becomes a moving portrait of people battling their inner demons, thanks to an outstanding acting ensemble.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
03/16/06
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune

Debra Granik's independent drama "Down to the Bone" builds with a strong, quiet intensity.

Full Review Source: About.com | comment Comment
11/28/05
Marcy Dermansky
Marcy Dermansky
About.com

Any sympathy developed for the characters quickly erodes as they continue to not only engage in self-destructive behavior but expose children to it.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
11/25/05
Annlee Ellingson
Annlee Ellingson
Boxoffice Magazine

Down to the Bone achieves what only the best independent films have: making life, at its most unvarnished, a journey.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
11/30/05
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly

a brave, elegantly filmed, treasure of perseverance

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
11/22/05
Rachel Gordon
Rachel Gordon
Filmcritic.com

Granik brings to her drama a clear-eyed realism as she charts one woman's descent into a drug-fueled purgatory.

Full Review Source: Reel.com | comment Comment
02/04/04
Pam Grady
Pam Grady
Reel.com

The movie seems to be about drug addiction and recovery, but it gradually shifts, becoming a look from an unusual angle at what a big job it is to be a parent and the priorities it requires.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
03/16/06
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

For actress Vera Farmiga, Down to the Bone presents her with a breakout role.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
01/27/04
Kirk Honeycutt
Kirk Honeycutt
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film is so pitch perfect and realistic, it seems you are there with these people, watching their lives unfold before you as it happens.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
12/16/05
G. Allen Johnson
G. Allen Johnson
San Francisco Chronicle

First-time feature director's disciplined objectivity is coupled with humanism in this collaboration with a gifted cast and cinematographer.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
11/23/05
Robert Koehler
Robert Koehler
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Complex and full of paradoxes, the drug addicts go through rehab and yearn for redemption, but their experiences are not tidy and there's no sweeping resolution or neat conclusion.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
12/02/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

Whether you're ready for the ride depends on whether you're looking for traditional filmic fare, or whether you're in the mood to be dragged into the depths of depression.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
03/03/04
Oz
Oz
eFilmCritic.com

A terrifically dark tale.

Full Review Source: Planet Sick-Boy | comment Comment
04/01/05
Jon Popick
Jon Popick
Planet Sick-Boy

Conventional movies, even independent ones, tend to get histrionic and judgmental about such drug-related setbacks. But Granik's film, though hardly a clinical case study, keeps a measured distance from the heavy-handed or simplistic.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
11/28/05
Gene Seymour
Gene Seymour
Newsday

This film has an ear for the way moms talk to kids, a sensitivity to drug-sweetened intimacies, and an appreciation of the urgent nuance, not just the comedy, of recovery-speak.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
11/21/05
Laura Sinagra
Laura Sinagra
Village Voice

... a harrowing character study.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
11/28/05
Kyle Smith
Kyle Smith
New York Post

[A] small, beautifully faceted gem.

comment Comment
11/28/05
Dana Stevens
Dana Stevens
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's the opposite of most films about drugs vs. life because it puts life up front.

Full Review Source: Offoffoff | comment Comment
06/12/04
Joshua Tanzer
Joshua Tanzer
Offoffoff
 
 
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