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WENDY AND LUCY
Michelle Williams is starting to become one of those actresses who can make any film she graces worth sitting through evidence of which is offered in a gut wrenching cinematic journey from 2008 called Wendy and Lucy.
Williams plays Wendy, a lost soul who it is revealed at the opening of the story is traveling to Alaska in a broken down Honda Accord with her dog Lucy. Wendy finds herself stranded in a small town in Oregon as the Accord gives out on her. While shoplifting food for Lucy, Wendy gets arrested but when she manages to get out of jail, she returns to the store where she left Lucy tied up and the dog is gone.
Director and co-screenwriter Kelly Reichardt has mounted one of those seemingly simple on the surface stories where backstory is revealed through present circumstances and the viewer finds themselves trying to piece together what has brought this pathetic creature to where she is as the story opens. Wendy has some some money but has it carefully earmarked for travelling expenses, but has little else. We feel for her when it is revealed she doesn't even have a change of clothes and is observed washing herself in a filthy gas station restroom.
Clues to what has driven Wendy to this point are methodically revealed without ever revealing her entire story. We don't learn her last name until about 40 minutes into the story and there is a very telling phone call between Wendy and her brother-in-law that perhaps reveals more than it should but is a beautifully written and played scene. We also learn that Wendy is a mother, a reveal you might miss if you blink at the wrong place, but by the final act, all we want is to see Wendy reunited with Lucy and even that reunion doesn't go where we expect it to go.
Reichardt draws an Oscar worthy performance from Michelle Williams as Wendy, a character who is as strong as she is pathetic and makes you feel every nuance of pain that she does. There is a lovely supporting turn from Walter Denton as a sympathetic security guard and Will Patton scores as a not so sympathetic mechanic. This film features exquisite cinematography and is another one of those movies that benefits from almost no music score...there is music during the closing credits and you don't even miss it during the rest of the film...the power of the story drives itself. A very special motion picture that I want to thank my good friend Citizen for recommending.
Michelle Williams is starting to become one of those actresses who can make any film she graces worth sitting through evidence of which is offered in a gut wrenching cinematic journey from 2008 called Wendy and Lucy.
Williams plays Wendy, a lost soul who it is revealed at the opening of the story is traveling to Alaska in a broken down Honda Accord with her dog Lucy. Wendy finds herself stranded in a small town in Oregon as the Accord gives out on her. While shoplifting food for Lucy, Wendy gets arrested but when she manages to get out of jail, she returns to the store where she left Lucy tied up and the dog is gone.
Director and co-screenwriter Kelly Reichardt has mounted one of those seemingly simple on the surface stories where backstory is revealed through present circumstances and the viewer finds themselves trying to piece together what has brought this pathetic creature to where she is as the story opens. Wendy has some some money but has it carefully earmarked for travelling expenses, but has little else. We feel for her when it is revealed she doesn't even have a change of clothes and is observed washing herself in a filthy gas station restroom.
Clues to what has driven Wendy to this point are methodically revealed without ever revealing her entire story. We don't learn her last name until about 40 minutes into the story and there is a very telling phone call between Wendy and her brother-in-law that perhaps reveals more than it should but is a beautifully written and played scene. We also learn that Wendy is a mother, a reveal you might miss if you blink at the wrong place, but by the final act, all we want is to see Wendy reunited with Lucy and even that reunion doesn't go where we expect it to go.
Reichardt draws an Oscar worthy performance from Michelle Williams as Wendy, a character who is as strong as she is pathetic and makes you feel every nuance of pain that she does. There is a lovely supporting turn from Walter Denton as a sympathetic security guard and Will Patton scores as a not so sympathetic mechanic. This film features exquisite cinematography and is another one of those movies that benefits from almost no music score...there is music during the closing credits and you don't even miss it during the rest of the film...the power of the story drives itself. A very special motion picture that I want to thank my good friend Citizen for recommending.