When Wendy and Lucy showed up on my radar a couple months ago, I was torn over whether or not I should bother renting it. The reviews were solid (80s are few and far between on MetaCritic), but what I had read/heard about the plot lead me to believe that it might be unbearably slow, even by artsy indie movie standards. On the other hand, the film’s star, Michelle Williams, has developed a reputation as one of our generation’s best young actresses over the past few years, so I decided to give it a shot.
Wendy and Lucy is incredibly small in scope. The film captures about a week in the life of Wendy, a seemingly aimless young woman drifting across the country on her way from Indiana to Alaska, with only the vague notion that she wants to spend the summer working in a fish cannery. We meet her as she’s already on her way and leave her before she has much of a chance to get any closer to her destination. We’re given no real exposition or denouement, but the crazy thing is that it really works wonderfully.
The hosts of one of my favorite podcasts, Filmspotting, are constantly criticizing movies for awkwardly forcing back-story details into places where they don’t fit. One recent - and particularly egregious - example of this took place in Taken, Liam Neeson’s recent ode to badassery. In that film, Neeson sits around a poker table with several of his CIA buddies discussing the highlights of his career and his love for his daughter. Filmspotting’s Adam and Matty were spot on when they said that this sort of spoon feeding shouldn’t be necessary. We don’t need to be told Neeson’s character’s full history in order to understand why he’s so intense in pursuit of his daughter’s captors; we should be able to gather that ourselves through his actions, words, and emotions. This is one of the key reasons why I see Wendy and Lucy as such a success; director Kelly Reichardt doesn’t need to waste any time with flashbacks, because Williams’s incredible acting and Jonathan Raymond’s screenplay give us a deep understanding of the character as we progress through the film.
What’s most impressive about Williams’s performance is how much authentic emotion she is able to convey with such a sparse script. She controls her expressions with incredible skill and reflects a deep sadness, teetering on the edge of hopelessness without overplaying it for a moment. Her stoicism is really beautiful in that regard. The fact that she essentially carries the film by herself, as Wendy is the only character of real significance, is another testament to the quality of her work here.
Reichardt also deserves a lot of credit for shooting this film in a way that reflects the tone of the story and the atmosphere of the setting. The locations chosen couldn’t have been better, and the muted color scheme that permeates every scene reveals the general malaise that sits over the whole town in which the story takes place.
In whole, Wendy and Lucy is an excellent film. It’s worth seeing for Michelle Williams’s performance by itself, but I really think that it succeeds on a number of levels. It’s not fast paced, and the story isn’t grandiose, but, as Film Threat’s Don Lewis said in his review, “Unless you’re an antsy movie-goer or have a cold heart, by the end of Wendy and Lucy, you’ll be engrossed, hoping for the best possible outcome.” So, check it out; I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
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This movie was certainly gut-wrenching and Michelle Williams did a great job, but boy was the pacing a hindrance to me. The movie’s runtime was right around 90 minutes but felt well over two hours.
I’m not an antsy moviegoer by any means; maybe it was the lack of dialogue or a real soundtrack (plus that one song they used was painfully annoying), but I thought the pacing really hurt the film as a whole.
Plus the complete lack of any development for Williams’ character–she had no evolution whatsoever or epiphany–hurt the film. I walked away without any sense of accomplishment or achievement from the film, just a depressing feeling. I know it was an indie movie and probably hoped to achieve that effect (which it did), but I just did not come away with the impression that I “enjoyed” the movie. Maybe it’s just me.
Dogs shoud be legal to hunt!
Ok, let’s get that out of the way. This is really a dog story. If you love dogs you are willing to wait, and wait, and wait for something to happen while watching this film.
If you don’t worship dogs you want to beat the crap out of the director, actress, and the fing dog. Note to wanabe actors; DO NOT ACT WITH PETS!