Though it sounds like a bubbly story about a girl-and-dog duo taking on the world, do not be fooled. Wendy and Lucy, Kelly Reichardt's powerful, minimalist new film, is not your happy dog-walk in the park.
The film picks up midway through Wendy's (Michelle Williams) trek from her home in Indiana to Alaska, where she hopes to find a lucrative job and a new life. Wendy, along with her canine-companion Lucy, only have $500 to make it to Alaska.
Filled with long, silent tracking shots of natural scenery and run-down America, the film relies on Williams' brilliant performance, especially through her facial expressions, to develop its emotional narrative. Its sparse dialogue leaves the audience with little knowledge of Wendy's past.
The only insight comes from a pay-phone conversation, revealing that Wendy is "heartbroken." The character's injuries on her ankle and stomach, evidenced by bandages, also go unexplained. It's impossible not to empathize with Wendy, but further explanation of Wendy's past would help legitimize the audience's sadness.
An introverted character through and through, Wendy does befriend (or, rather, is forced to befriend) a Walgreens security guard (Wally Dalton), who helps Wendy when her car breaks down and then when she loses Lucy.
Dalton's character helps develop the film's political message-a commentary on the economic climate and general suppression of the jobless. A victim of the system, Wendy undergoes serious hardships. As her Walgreens friend says of the system, "It's all fixed."
An acute look at small-town America, Wendy and Lucy is a realistic and bare film, but one that will not leave a smile on your face.
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