Review: Wendy and Lucy (4/5)

Wendy and Lucy
(Kelly Reichard):
Michelle Williams
Running time: 80 minutes (15A)

Just 30 seconds into the long tracking shot that opens Wendy and Lucy, your racing brain begins to slow down. It’s a story of companionship set on the margins. With its clanking freight trains, hopeless townscapes and poverty, the story, written by Jon Raymond, evokes Depression-era writing. Wendy (a desperate, brooding and terrific Michelle Williams) is on her way to Alaska when her car breaks down. Her best friend is her dog Lucy. Low on cash, she shoplifts dog food but gets caught. Then Lucy disappears. What follows is a long night of the soul as Wendy stoically fights her mounting despair. Director Kelly Reichard works with hypnotic simplicity. Her intimate behavioural style allows characters to be built and story to be told from mere observation. She evokes a very rich sense of place. Her films catch characters as they slip between the cracks. There is one horrifying scene, in mute blackness, where Wendy sleeps rough and comes very close to danger. The moment moves expertly from one of terror to an awareness of human tragedy. Like Reichard’s wonderful 2006 film Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy is full of simple gestures that shine brightly. It’s very true, honest and compelling.