Lying flat on my back sick this weekend, I got caught up ...

Lying flat on my back sick this weekend, I got caught up on a few good films (much like a few good men, apparently hard to find): Fish Tank and Winter's Bone. It's incredibly gratifying to find two young female protagonists who are honestly written and honestly portrayed, without, say, the Coen Brothers' ironic comment on "how to make an excellent Western" in the good but too-slick True Grit. In these real gritty, neo-New Wave, low(er) budget films, material limitations open up new possibilities for characterization and textual nuance. Winter's Bone is stark and beautiful, but my favorite has to be Andrea Arnold's Fish Tank. I'm a believer in British film again. (Full review forthcoming in Btchflicks sometime this month.)