Down to the Bone

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Irene (Vera Farmiga), a drug-addled, working-class mother of two, decides to check herself into a rehab center in upstate New York, where she meets and falls in love with a fellow addict (Hugh Dillon) who's working hard to mend his ways. But when one of them relapses into addiction, can their commitment to each other prevail over the lure of narcotics? Debra Granik won the Director's Award and Farmiga won the Special Jury Prize at Sundance.
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Netflix Rating: 3.1
Rotten Tomatoes: Fresh 93%: 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.
Fresh: 28 Rotten: 2 Rotten Tomatoes page
Top Rotten Tomatoes Critics: For actress Vera Farmiga, Down to the Bone presents her with a breakout role.

Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter

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

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

If there were an ounce of taste left in Hollywood, the magnificent Vera Farmiga would be a front-runner for the Best Actress Oscar.

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

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

G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle

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

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

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

Gene Seymour, Newsday

... a harrowing character study. full review

Kyle Smith, New York Post

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

Laura Sinagra, Village Voice

... 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

Jami Bernard, New York Daily News

Down to the Bone emerges with an aura of authenticity so strong as to be mesmerizing, thanks to a superior script brought to life with infallibly natural performances ... full review

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

Unlike most movies about addictions, Down to the Bone doesn't follow the usual, comforting three-act structure -- social user develops a problem, user becomes a desperate addict, user finally gets some help. full review

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

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

Robert Koehler, Variety

[A] small, beautifully faceted gem.

Dana Stevens, New York Times

full review by Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta Journal-Constitution