Film Forum

(2008, Kelly Reichardt) “‘If a person can’t afford dog food, then they shouldn’t have a dog,’ snaps a preppy store clerk to Wendy (Michelle Williams) after catching her stealing food for her beloved yellow-gold retriever, Lucy. The clerk’s sentiment captures the debate at the heart of this brilliant, desperately sad Steinbeckian fable from American director Kelly Reichardt. It’s Reichardt’s third full-length feature, but only her first masterpiece… Stylistically uncomplicated and admirable in both its honesty and the terseness of its storytelling, the film manages that rare feat of being both remarkably prescient and modest at the same time… The story, too, is never over-egged with superfluous plot, dialogue or imagery and every minutely judged frame oozes gently with detail and emotion…. But central to it all is Michelle Williams’s beautifully restrained and humane performance which embodies the pent-up frustrations, doubts, fears and dilemmas that this lonely soul has been burdened with... It’s what makes this film the small miracle that it is.” – David Jenkins, Time Out. DCP. Approx. 80 min.