DVD Review: Wendy and Lucy: Will Oldham, Will Patton, Walter Dalton, Michelle Williams, Larry Fessenden, John Robinson, Tanya Smith, Lucy the Dog, David Koppell, Max Clement, Sid Shanley, Dave Hubner, Michelle Worthy, Roger Faires, Boggs Johnson, Kelly Reichardt: Movies & TV
DVD Review: Wendy and Lucy: Will Oldham, Will Patton, Walter Dalton, Michelle Williams, Larry Fessenden, John Robinson, Tanya Smith, Lucy the Dog, David Koppell, Max Clement, Sid Shanley, Dave Hubner, Michelle Worthy, Roger Faires, Boggs Johnson, Kelly Reichardt: Movies & TV
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Kelly Reichardt’s second feature, Wendy and Lucy, has even more Pacific Northwest piney quietude than her debut Old Joy, since its starring couple is a canine-human pair rather than a male duo. Will Oldham again makes a charged appearance, this time as Icky (Will Oldham), a grungy, train-hopping punk. Based on a short story, this time Jonathan Raymond’s “Train Choir,” Wendy and Lucy’s dialogue is a sparse spattering amongst long, languid scenes that moodily portray a young woman, Wendy (Michelle Williams), suffering economic crisis and road trip malaise on her way to work Alaskan fishing boats. The bulk of the story takes place in Portland, where her Honda breaks down and she must engage the local mechanic (Will Patton) and Walgreen’s security guard (Wally Dalton) for honest advice and for help finding her dog, Lucy, who disappears during one of Wendy’s disasters. Wendy and Lucy would aptly be titled Wendy’s Bad Day, as problems pile up due to one main misstep. Williams does a great job portraying a woman who is semi self-sufficient but clueless in the art of survival. As the film speaks to many young people who have been broke and stranded, one will inevitably wonder why Wendy makes the unwise choices she does, for example sleeping in a dangerous area along a train track instead of finding a safer campground, or wandering the streets looking for her lost pooch in lieu of hunkering down for a temporary part-time job. The film straddles the line between social realism and fantasy in this regard, provoking frustration during certain plot twists. However, Wendy and Lucy is a pleasure to look at for its grainy greenery, hypnotic, sweeping landscape and train yard shots, and for the story, when it centers on developing the deep bond between a lady and her dog. –Trinie Dalton
Product Description
The most critically acclaimed film of the year, WENDY AND LUCY is a touching political road movie about an idealistic young drifter, her faithful dog and the wide-open spaces of the Pacific Northwest. Played by Academy Award-nominated actress Michelle Williams, Wendy is a down-on-her-luck girl who’s hoping to turn things around for herself with a summer job in Alaska. On route to her new life, Wendy s car breaks down in Oregon and the thin fabric of her financial situation comes apart. Gorgeously filmed in stark, luminous imagery, WENDY AND LUCY addresses issues of sympathy and generosity at the edges of American life, revealing the limits and depths of people’s duty to each other in our modern times. Academy Award nominee Michelle Williams stars this powerful drama from Kelly Reichardt, director of critically acclaimed OLD JOY. Reichardt continues to show her remarkable gift for classically simple, deeply engaging storytelling. Manohla Dargis, writing in the NY Times about Cannes hailed the film as a pitch perfect triumph.
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Succinctly and mourningly poetic ,
By Rustin Parr “Rustin Parr”
(Toronto, Canada) -
Michelle Williams delivers a very understated performance as a down-on-her-luck Wendy, who brings her loyal dog, Lucy, along with her to a journey for a supposed prosperity. It is a very quiet and subtle performance that, Wendy, with little money and no dog food, and an incident which prompts her to lose Lucy, meshes along with her surroundings: a dry and monotone small town, where the sun shines to merely beat down the lumbering, sluggish skins of the inhabitants.This is a very important work, especially in light of today’s economic situation: “You need an address to get an address, and you need a job to get a job.” succinctly says the kind-hearted security guard who provides help to Wendy during her descent into financial and emotional ruins. “Wendy and Lucy”, directed by Kelly Reichardt, emphasizes the many possibilities that are available to an individual by virtue of how everything could be wiped away by being in a little mishap that triggers a chain of unfortunate events, each worse than the previous ones. The dire circumstances that Wendy finds herself in may not be grandiose or explosive, but her plight is all the more heartbreaking and terrifying: just a few more dollars for a bag of dog food for Lucy would have made all the difference. Along with “The Wrestler”, though this one is on a simpler and quieter scale, “Wendy and Lucy” is visual poetry that examines a broken and fragile character that perseveres through life’s many disappointments. Very ethereal and melancholic; it is simply beautiful.
Is It Just About a Girl and Her Dog?,
By Chris Pandolfi (Los Angeles, CA) -
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)
This review is from: Wendy and Lucy [Theatrical Release] (Theatrical Release)
When a story is referred to as a Slice of Life, I usually take it with a grain of salt because the term is often used so generically. What exactly does Slice of Life mean? I think it means that the story is simple, direct, and realistically represented, with very little attention given to dramatic enhancements. “Wendy and Lucy” works on those levels, so I guess calling it a Slice of Life film would be accurate. What intrigues me is that it’s a deeply heartfelt movie that doesn’t beat you over the head with obvious heartfelt elements; there are no tragic death scenes or lovelorn pleas, nor is there a sweeping musical score that’s mostly made up of strings. It’s a character study that intentionally reveals as little as possible; director/co-writer Kelly Reichardt wisely chose to let the course of events speak for the characters. It’s relies on small, quiet moments of drama rather than a series of contrived, overblown occurrences.
On the surface, there isn’t much to analyze or even describe. Wendy (Michelle Williams) has left her home in Indiana to find work all the way up in Alaska. After her car breaks down in the middle of Oregon, she loses her beloved dog, Lucy, a loyal Golden Retriever mix. She then spends the rest of the film trying to find Lucy, all the while having to deal with a dwindling cash supply, which wasn’t all that large to begin with.
I’m reminded of an episode of “The Jack Benny Program” in which Benny appeared on a panel show with two other people. The host asked them about the significance of Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea.” The two guests felt that the story was a profound example of man’s struggle against nature. Benny felt that it was just about an old man that went fishing. Some will see “Wendy and Lucy” and think it’s just about a girl and her dog. Maybe it is, although I tend to doubt it. Wendy is a character I cared deeply about, and this is despite the fact that I knew virtually nothing about her. Somehow, I don’t think I’d be able to care if the plot was the extent of the film’s depth; there must have been something lying beneath the layers, something that allowed me to look past the stark, subdued nature of the story.
That being said, I’m not sure what that something is. Maybe it’s a simple matter of not wanting to see Wendy lost and alone in such a lifeless town, where people speak to her in as few words as possible. Then again, it’s quite possible that she was lost and alone to begin with; the circumstances that led to her leaving Indiana are never discussed, but a brief conversation with her sister and her sister’s husband hints that she was never close to them. It could also be that the town itself is symbolic of the dead zone in her life. I’m speculating, of course, although there’s evidence to support it. Consider the fact that she can’t bring herself to spend her money on simple things like a motel room; she would rather sleep in her car and freshen herself in the bathroom of mechanic’s garage. It’s one thing to save your money–it’s another thing to deny yourself access to basic amenities.
Most of the people Wendy runs into are lethargic, monotone, and dull, the unfortunate products of the town they grew up in. When Wendy is busted for shoplifting, even the stocker didn’t sound convinced by his own assertion that the store has to set an example. She then meets the local mechanic (Will Patton), who’s not interested in her car troubles and gives her the usual spiel about how much such and such a part will cost her. He pauses to take a call from his bookie, and even then, he sounds detached. Wendy also encounters a homeless man when she makes the mistake of deciding to sleep in the woods; it was hard to see him in the darkness, although I heard every word of his truthful but frightening speech about why he hates people.
There is, in fact, only one character that Wendy gets along with: An old, lonely security guard who never tells Wendy his name (Wally Dalton). While he doesn’t do much in the way of getting to know her, he’s compelled to help her out by letting her use his cell phone for periodic calls to the local dog pound. This may or may not be the film’s only attempt at contrived drama. The reason I’m not sure is because the security guard is, in most respects, just as dead inside as everyone else living in that town; he stands alone outside a building that no one ever seems to go into, so it’s possible he sees Wendy only as someone to talk to. Then again, would someone in need of human contact even consider lending out his cell phone? From my point of view, that seems like an actual friendly gesture.
It would seem that a lot of “Wendy and Lucy” is open to interpretation. The only clear aspect is the relationship between the title characters, which is the sole driving force of the plot. But does there need to be anything more? After all, the film does have a definite beginning, middle, and end, and this is despite the fact that there’s so little emphasis on character development or even basic narrative exposition. And somehow, we’re made to care for Wendy, a troubled young woman who only wanted to get to Alaska with her dog. The fact that we don’t know where she came from or where she’ll end up may not be all that satisfying, but hey, that’s what you get from a Slice of Life.
Patience.,
By Ron “true faith” (Berkeley, CA USA) -
This review is from: Wendy and Lucy [Theatrical Release] (Theatrical Release)
Let me first say after I saw this film, I had to think about it and digest what was going on, before I knew what I thought about it. My initial reaction was a feeling of indifference. I liked and didn’t like the characters. More later. “Wendy and Lucy” is a slow-moving, character-study film. IT REQUIRES PATIENCE. There’s not a heck of a lot of dialogue so you have to read between the lines. It’s simple and spare storytelling–much like in the style of Hemingway. It’s essentially about a girl who is trying to find her American Dream in Alaska. She feels once she gets there, her life will get better. She reminded me of the guy in “Into the Wild” and Tom Joad in “The Grapes of Wrath.” However, this is not a road movie. The whole film takes place in a suburb of Portland, Oregon. She has one mishap happen after another: her car breaks down, she gets arrested for shoplifting, she loses her dog–you get the picture. For the greater part of the film, she is searching for her dog. This may wear on the patience of some viewers. Hang in there. All I can say is this film is not about what happens at the end but rather–how it gets there. Appreciate and understand how Wendy reacts and behaves because I think that is the key to understanding the film. Now let me talk about my feelings of indifference to the characters. At first I thought the security guard at Walgreen’s was a jerk because he was sorta like “evicting” Wendy from the parking lot. I thought, what harm was she doing sleeping in her car in the parking lot? It wasn’t as if they needed her parking space because there were a sleuth of cars waiting around the corner. But then he tried to help her find her dog and I thought differently of him. The same thing goes for the auto mechanic. At first I thought he was trying to rip her off, but then he proposed a more than fair deal to her regarding her car. I even felt indifferent to Wendy. I thought she was kinda stupid to sleep alone in a deserted park at night. Wasn’t she afraid of some crazy people coming up to her? And sure enough–someone did. But then I saw other signs of her that showed how responsible she was, such as keeping track of how much money she spent, etc. So what did I think of this movie? I liked it very much. It is one of the best films of the year, and Michelle Williams turns in one of her best performances to date. She should win the Oscar for Best Actress. She is the main reason why I liked this film so much. The Wendy character is a complex role. She has shades of being a hippie from the ’60s: independent and free-spirited. Yet, she’s also practical and resourceful like someone from the Great Depression. I liked how there was a “liberal” and “conservative” side to Wendy. Is the director foreshadowing our President-elect in light of his recent nominations for his Cabinet?
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