Down to the Bone

Theatrical Release Date: 2005 11 25 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 829567030226

Studio: Hart Sharp Video

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Adult Situations, Substance Abuse]

Summary: Independent filmmaker Debra Granik makes her feature debut with the drama Down to the Bone, based on her award-winning short Snake Feed. Vera Farmiga stars as Irene, 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. Hoping to make a change in her life, she tries to kick her drug habit. However, this proves even more difficult with the oncoming winter and a developing affair. Also starring Hugh Dillon and Clint Jordan, Down to the Bone premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Special Jury Prize – Sundance Film Festival Best Actress – Independent Spirit Awards John Cassavetes Award – Independent Spirit Awards Best Actress – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Actress - Runner-up – National Society of Film Critics In Competition – Deauville Film Festival Dramatic Directing Award – Sundance Film Festival

Features: Film commentary with director Debra Granik & star Vera Farmiga
Award-winning short Snake Feed on which the movie was based

Down to the Bone

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 10/31/2006

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen

Audio: DD2 Dolby Digital Stereo

Runtime: 101 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Down to the Bone
1. Trick or Treat [7:33]
2. Desperate to Score [5:49]
3. Getting Help [7:36]
4. Calming the Monkey [8:22]
5. Back to Life [5:47]
6. Thanksgiving [6:08]
7. Clean [9:14]
8. The City [9:45]
9. Not Working [5:49]
10. Caught [9:23]
11. Coming Forward [6:01]
12. Where've You Been? [5:01]
13. Off the Wagon [10:25]
14. End Credits [4:10]

Derek Armstrong

The indie heir apparent to Robin Wright Penn was introduced to the world -- or at least, a tiny segment of the viewing public -- in Down to the Bone, a gritty window into the small victories and giant relapses of a recovering blue-collar drug addict. Vera Farmiga had been working in supporting roles for years, but never had she so commanded the screen and been so emotionally naked as in Down to the Bone, making this little film the coming-out party for a true talent. Debra Granik's film is not constructed as a sequence of increasingly alarming episodes, a strategy lesser films have used to hammer home the notion that "drugs are bad" with ever greater urgency. Instead, it's as though a true three-month segment from the life of any flawed dead-ender were plucked from the calendar and put on celluloid. Granik doesn't adhere to the clear three-act structure utilized in most narrative films, which will strike some viewers as unfocused. But for those who seek realism, rather than escapism, when they go to the theater, Down to the Bone is indie film heaven. The entire film is overlain with grubbiness, but nothing is exaggerated for effect. These feel like real rehab centers, more likely to inspire feelings of boredom than imprisonment, and real affordable housing, dingy but without making a specific point of it. Similarly, Irene's husband (Clint Jordan) -- who would be an abusive lout in another film -- is not significantly less charming than the recovering addict (Hugh Dillon) she takes as a lover. Down to the Bone might benefit from a slightly firmer hand and a slightly more obvious sense of catharsis, as it closes in a way that could prompt the question, "That's it?" But, sometimes in life, that is it. Sometimes that's all there is. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Ernst Longyear  Actor 
Terry McKenna  Actor 
Crystal Verdachizzi  Actor 
Gia Mitchell  Actor 
Chris Heitzman  Actor 
Edward C. Crawford  Actor 
Susan Leber  Producer 
Debra Granik  Director 
Debra Granik  Screenwriter 
Richard Lieske  Screenwriter 
Anne Rosellini  Producer 
East River Pipe  Composer (Music Score) 
Jackie O Motherfucker  Composer (Music Score) 
Low  Composer (Music Score) 
Vera Farmiga  Actor 
Hugh Dillon  Actor 
Clint Jordan  Actor 
Caridad de la Luz  Actor 
Jasper Moon Daniels  Actor 
Taylor Foxhall  Actor 

Country: USA