Wendy and Lucy

Wendy and Lucy (dir. Kelly Reichardt)

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A girl and her dog find themselves stranded on their way to a better life Kelly Reichardt's follow-up to her warmly received Old Joy. Michelle Williams stars as Wendy, a luckless drifter looking to find work in Alaska, and Lucy (the director's dog, which also appeared in Old Joy) is her faithful canine companion. when Wendy's car breaks down, she finds herself stranded in a nowhere town in Oregon. Reichardt favors simple, unadorned storytelling, and here she chronicles Wendy's mounting troubles in an unhurried and level-headed way - there's no room for Von Trier-ian histronics, just the plain fact of a life lived on the ever-furthering margins. Williams keeps things close to the hilt, only letting us in at key moments - a confrontation with a stranger, and an act of touching sacrifice. As we hear a predictable new round of hyperbole about the coming of new New Deal in American society, cinematic representations of such bleak struggles become increasingly relevant. Modest, and a success.