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Showing Up
Despite the accustomed splendid performance by five time Oscar nominee Michelle Williams in the starring role, 2022's Showing Up is a flat and pretentious character study that might require toothpicks for the eyelids.
Williams plays Lizzy, a sculptor and premature spinster who is freaking out because she has a show in a week and nobody seems to care. Primarily conflicts in Lizzy's life currently are trying to keep the peace between her divorced parents, keeping track of her mentally-challenged brother and her contentious relationship with Jo, a fellow (or rival) artist and Lizzy's landlord.
Can't express my disappointment with this film because it was directed and co-written by Kelly Reichardt, who directed Williams in one of my favorite movies of hers, Wendy and Lucy, so I don't know what went wrong here. Lizzy and Wendy are both social outsiders and are trying to survive all alone in the world, but what goes on with Lizzy in this movie just wasn't terribly interesting.
Lizzy sculpts miniature figures, mostly female, an abstract variation on Barbie if you will. Both Reichardt and Williams work very hard at showing the audience how demanding and delicate the art of sculpting is, and as much as we want to, we just don't care. There's one scene, between 5 and 10 minutes in length, where we see the arm fall of one of Lizzy's sculptures and we watch her re-attach it, that put me to sleep.
The relationship between Lizzy and Jo is probably the most interesting part of the movie because there is so much tension in this relationship that the audience senses immediately. Apparently, Lizzy has no hot water in her apartment for weeks and Jo hasn't been able to squeeze it into her schedule. Jo does find time to bring an injured pigeon to nurse back to health and as soon she gets home, asks Lizzy to watch the bird for her. Lizzy looks at Jo like she's just been asked to cut off her right arm.
Reichardt's direction is rather pedestrian and other than Williams, the supporting performances are nothing special. It should be noted that her dad is played by Judd Hirsch, who would work with Williams again on their next film The Fablemans, but believe me, this is no The Fablemans. Hong Chau, nominated for a supporting actress Oscar for The Whale is a lot of fun as Jo.
Despite the accustomed splendid performance by five time Oscar nominee Michelle Williams in the starring role, 2022's Showing Up is a flat and pretentious character study that might require toothpicks for the eyelids.
Williams plays Lizzy, a sculptor and premature spinster who is freaking out because she has a show in a week and nobody seems to care. Primarily conflicts in Lizzy's life currently are trying to keep the peace between her divorced parents, keeping track of her mentally-challenged brother and her contentious relationship with Jo, a fellow (or rival) artist and Lizzy's landlord.
Can't express my disappointment with this film because it was directed and co-written by Kelly Reichardt, who directed Williams in one of my favorite movies of hers, Wendy and Lucy, so I don't know what went wrong here. Lizzy and Wendy are both social outsiders and are trying to survive all alone in the world, but what goes on with Lizzy in this movie just wasn't terribly interesting.
Lizzy sculpts miniature figures, mostly female, an abstract variation on Barbie if you will. Both Reichardt and Williams work very hard at showing the audience how demanding and delicate the art of sculpting is, and as much as we want to, we just don't care. There's one scene, between 5 and 10 minutes in length, where we see the arm fall of one of Lizzy's sculptures and we watch her re-attach it, that put me to sleep.
The relationship between Lizzy and Jo is probably the most interesting part of the movie because there is so much tension in this relationship that the audience senses immediately. Apparently, Lizzy has no hot water in her apartment for weeks and Jo hasn't been able to squeeze it into her schedule. Jo does find time to bring an injured pigeon to nurse back to health and as soon she gets home, asks Lizzy to watch the bird for her. Lizzy looks at Jo like she's just been asked to cut off her right arm.
Reichardt's direction is rather pedestrian and other than Williams, the supporting performances are nothing special. It should be noted that her dad is played by Judd Hirsch, who would work with Williams again on their next film The Fablemans, but believe me, this is no The Fablemans. Hong Chau, nominated for a supporting actress Oscar for The Whale is a lot of fun as Jo.