Wendy and Lucy (Kelly Reichardt, 2008)

The first of Reichardt’s remarkable, ongoing collaborations with Michelle Williams, Wendy and Lucy captures the zeitgeist of the US in the wake of the 2007–9 economic crisis. Wendy (played by Williams in an extraordinary performance) is travelling through Oregon with only her car and dog named Lucy (played by Reichardt’s own dog). After her car breaks down, her increasingly dire financial situation reveals the limits and depths of our duties to each other in tough times. A New York Times article declared the film both a harbinger of “neo-neo-realism” in American cinema and the answer to the question “what kind of movies do we need now?” (80 mins., 35mm)