Director Report Card: Debra Granik (2004)

Debra Granik is a director that seemingly emerged out of nowhere. When “Winter's Bone” hit the indie circuit in 2009, the raves and awards rolling in quickly afterwards, it seemed to herald the arrival of an exciting new talent... Granik then seemed to vanish back into the mist, not returning until nearly a full decade later with “Leave No Trace.” As always, the true story is a little more complicated than that. Granik has made other films, before and between her indie darlings, and the reason for her capricious nature becomes self-evident once you do a little reading. Equally obvious is that Granik is an exciting talent, a director with keen insight into American life as it exist in the new century.

1. Down to the Bone

Debra Granik began her career making industrial films in Massachusetts, beginning a life-long interest in capturing the working class society with a documentary-like directness. After transferring to New York University, she began work on a thesis short film called “Snake Feed.” The film had two real life recovering drug addicts, Rick and Irene, playing loosely fictionalized versions of themselves as they struggle with employment and life near the poverty line. “Snake Feed” was well received enough to be accepted into the Sundance Lab. There, the short would be developed into a feature entitled “Down to the Bone.”

Irene Morrison is mom to two rambunctious boys, her husband rarely around to help out in any way. She works a tedious, demanding, and low paying job as a supermarket cashier. She's also a drug addict. When the others aren't looking, she snorts cocaine to keep herself going. After hitting rock bottom – using her son's birthday money to buy drugs – she checks into Narcotics Anonymous. While in rehab, she meets a nurse named Bob, himself a recovering heroin addict. The two quickly begin a love affair. Once outside of the program, Irene struggles with employment and sobriety... Especially because Bob is still using, quickly pulling her back into the drug-using lifestyle.

“Down to the Bone” is a matter-of-fact depiction of drug addiction. Irene, from a distance, seems to be a functioning adult. She goes to her job, takes care of her kids, and tries to pay her bills. Granik establishes Irene’s drug use in an effectively blunt way. While the kids are getting into their Halloween costumes, Irene slips into the bathroom to snort a little coke. Irene doesn’t look or act like most cinematic drug addicts. She still faces down humiliation, such as when she has to haggle with her dealer. But her addiction is depicted more as the side-effect of a demanding life. “Down to the Bone” is not a sensationalist film, instead seeking the realism of a world where a few lines or a bit of oxy is what keeps a person running.

It’s also an interesting film, structurally. “Down to the Bone” does not progress the way I expected. Instead of stretching out her days of desperation, Irene’s decision to go to rehab occurs early on in the film. Most addiction dramas would follow from there, focusing on the struggles Irene faces in rehab and the people she meets there. Instead, “Down to the Bone” is just getting started. For a very realistic fact — Irene can’t afford to be in rehab for very long — she is back in the world not too long after that. “Down to the Bone” begins where most stories like this end because Granik is most interested in the conflict an addict feels re-adapting to their lives without drugs.

This focus is most evident in the struggles Irene faces to stay sober. The film acknowledges the way drugs made her life easier. Her work performance is effected by going sober, as she can’t keep up her normal speed. Her kids stress her out more. No wonder she “slips up” throughout her journey to stay clean. Earlier, some friends dice up some powder and Irene has to excuse herself, clearly tempted. Her not-very-supportive husband, during a failed attempt to improve their sex lives, suggests snorting some lines. Irene impulsively goes along with it. Similarly, when Bob reveals some drugs during a hot and heavy make-out session, Irene goes along with it. Sobriety isn’t a straight path and fighting the way addiction has rewired your brain means there will be mistakes.

“Down to the Bone” is also the most unusual of love stories. It almost seems like a deliberate subversion of typical movie rules. (Not that genre classification interests Granik at all.) At first, Bob has all the answers. He’s a guiding light helping Irene out of the darkness of her addiction. He’s also funny, exciting, and sexy in a way her husband definitely is not. While Irene’s husband struggles to interest her in sex, Bob knows just how to excite her. All of that changes when, in another shockingly blunt moment, Irene walks in on Bob with a needle in his arm. Suddenly, she’s the one guiding both of them, she’s the one with the power in the relationship. It’s another example of the quiet but shotgun blast effective way Granik keeps the viewer on their toes.

What most struck me about “Down to the Bone,” even more than its realistic portrayal of addiction and sobriety, is its depiction of life near the poverty line. Irene has a home but it’s humble, at best. The neighborhood is depressed, partly rural and largely isolated. She struggles everyday just to pay the bills, often having to juggle what the family can and can’t afford this week. She does all of this on a cashier’s meager paycheck. After she does the right thing and tells her boss about her drug use — and gets fired for her honesty — she’s tossed from one odd job to another. (Including a semi-comedic gig as a house cleaner, that comes with its own challenges.) Bob, meanwhile, eventually resorts to selling part of his methadone to earn extra cash. This kind of life, of never having enough to save, of struggling just to break even, is one I recognize. It’s the life of my friends, of my parents, of me.

Another element that makes Irene’s quest towards sobriety more challenging is that she’s a parent. Her boys are good kids. They are sometimes rambunctious but seem fairly in tune with the struggles their parents face. Irene loves them both dearly. But that doesn’t mean it's easy. For his birthday, the one son really wants a pet snake. Irene has to tell him they can’t afford that, the specialized care such a pet requires. When she’s high, she relents and gets the boy his own slithery reptile. (Another example of the way drugs inform the decisions people make.) During another memorable moment, she looses her temper when the boys ask her to make breakfast. Being a parent is hard enough. Trying to manage two sons while also trying to beat a coke addiction seems impossible.

Even though this was only her first feature film, Debra Granik’s visual style as a director was already established. There's a grounded, documentary-like approach here that can only be described as “naturalistic.” The camera watches patiently as these characters go about their lives. Granik takes the time to soak up the details of these surroundings, strongly imparting the world these people live in. Her stylistic approaches shine through the most in the editing, in the way the film cuts between episodes in Irene’s life suddenly. That’s what life is like sometimes, a series of unimportant things happening from day-to-day. The approach is extremely effective at creating a clear sense of reality and a deep feeling of empathy in the viewer.

Before “Down to the Bone,” Vera Farmiga had appeared in a number of films and television shows. This is the film that would truly be her breakthrough. And rightfully so. Farmiga is excellent as Irene. She conveys so much with just her face and body language. When giving in to her addiction, impulsively deciding to snort some coke, you can see the internal sense of defeat and relief, how she feels like a failure for giving in but also can't help but feel better for feeding the beast. Farmiga displays a rawness, when crying during her moment of clarity, but also a stronger side. Irene is a fighter, even when shackled by her addiction, and Farmiga makes that attitude more than clear. The talented actress even brings a degree of humor to the part, such as when she notes how much cleaning supplies smell like her drug of choice.

Though this is clearly Farmiga's show, the supporting cast is strong too. Hugh Dillion hits all the right notes as Bob. He's initially extremely charming, the character presented to the audience the same Irene sees him. And just as the illusion starts to fall apart for her, so it goes for us as well. Dillion is very good at embodying both sides of this character, a handsome guy who is also a scummy junkie. Clint Jordan, as Irene's husband Steve, does an equally good job of playing a seemingly clueless man... Who still pulls through and does the right thing to protect his kids. Caridad De La Luz plays the closest friend Irene makes in rehab and her observation during their cleaning job together are pretty amusing.

Granik's naturalistic instincts largely work perfectly for her. Except in one regard. “Down to the Bone” has a very abrupt ending. Irene tells Bob to leave, that she can't have an addict in her life while she's trying to get clean. He does so and then the film cuts to black. On one hand, I want to admire the balls of that. The movie is about their relationship. The relationship ends. So does the movie. Yet it does leave the viewer feeling a little blindsided. “Snake Feed,” the short that “Down to the Bone” is based on, extends a little further past this point. I wish the feature version had followed that lead.

Still, “Down to the Bone” is a stunning debut. It's a powerful work of empathy, showing the daily struggles of someone not to different from someone you probably know. The filmmaking and acting on display is fantastic. Granik brilliantly captures the reality of living in America today. The film wouldn't be ignored on the festival circuit, picking up a few awards for its star and director. It still feels like an overlooked film in Granik's career and deserves to be more wildly seen. [Grade: A-]