I have watched quite a few films with Indie darling Michelle Williams in recently and this is my favourite. It is a simple story about a woman on the verge of poverty struggling to make ends meet as she embarks on a journey to Alaska with her beloved dog Lucy. Her economic decline is moving and Michelle Williams plays Wendy , as always, in a subtle and vulnerable way if perhaps a little unemotional at times. The minimalism of the film allows the audience to focus on the main elements and characters of the film and it is beautifully shot with industrial scenery given the time and attention a beautiful natural landscape would be given. The camera sees the beauty in the uninviting small town that Wendy and Lucy get stranded in as the car breaks down.
It is an interesting story idea, examining the relationship between a person and their dog but combining current economic issues. Dogs were popular character choices in Eighties cop movies K9 (1989) and Turner and Hooch (1989) and more recently in the Argentinean Bombón: El Perro (2004). But we never really get to know Lucy as a character; the film is much more about Wendy and her love for Lucy. We never find out how Wendy got into such a situation with only a glimpse of her uninterested sister and her husband in a brief phone conversation. The kind security guard character is heart-warming and is in great contrast to the unsympathetic supermarket workers who decide to make an example of Wendy as she is caught shoplifting.
Kelly Reichardt and Michelle Williams have collaborated again in the recent Meek’s Cutoff, set in 1845 it follows travellers in the Oregon desert dealing with harsh conditions, and it will be interesting to see if apart from a change in period if this film offers anything new from Wendy and Lucy, a film very much about someone dealing with harsh conditions. The ending lets you decide what happens in Wendy and Lucy’s future, be it bleak or happy. This is a restrained film from a potentially very interesting female director and I look forward to seeing Meek’s Cutoff.
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