REVIEW: Wendy and Lucy [2008]

Rating: R | Runtime: 80 minutes
Release Date: December 10th, 2008 (USA)
Studio: Oscilloscope
Director(s): Kelly Reichardt
Writer(s): Jonathan Raymond & Kelly Reichardt / Jonathan Raymond (story)

Your son is a real hero.

Critics darling Wendy and Lucy has a powerful performance at its center courtesy of Michelle Williams. I’m just not sure it has very much else going for it. Maybe this is a way of telling myself that I am a film fan and not a critic since I was absolutely bored and ambivalent to what was happening. Is it a masterpiece of minimalism? Does it capture the turmoil and strife of a down-on-her-luck woman desperately trying to restart her life while constantly being knocked down by fate?

Maybe. But did I care? Not really. Our lead ends the film right where she began: in Oregon, en route to Alaska, and without a car. Has she evolved? Has her situation improved or worsened? No and no. This film is a slice of life picture that comes full circle in a very short 80 minutes, taking us for a ride that inevitably goes nowhere. It’s a shame too because Williams is fantastic. I just wish there was a story to make her hard work meaningful.

The simple story deals with Wendy and her dog Lucy on a journey to Alaska in search of work to make some much needed money. Starting from Indiana, they have made it as far as Oregon when their car finally breaks down in a Walgreens parking lot. With little money, no place to stay, and the closest garage closed for the day, Wendy decides to try her luck shoplifting in order to feed herself and her companion. That idea won’t work, though, and, after spending an eternity in jail getting fingerprinted and fined, she returns to Jack’s grocery to find Lucy gone.

The rest of the film therefore pits her against the world as she looks for her friend, tries to get her car repaired, and attempts to find a safe place to spend the night … all of which lead to tragic results upon her existential journey. Repeatedly stepped on and beaten by bad luck, you must at least give her credit for never giving up. Despite the tears and desperation, Wendy does her best to stay composed while meeting a couple kind souls on the way and allowing herself to truck on to a hopefully brighter future.

With plenty of dead air devoid of speech and a fair share of long takes showing the same activity over and over, you can’t fault the movie’s realism. It’s very cinéma vérité to depict real-time events in an artistic way. Carefully composed and deliberately paced, Wendy and Lucy does its best to feel like it’s a document of her life for these three dreadful days out west, but that authenticity doesn’t always equal entertainment. You feel for Wendy, yet you also start wondering why. I respect the fact that she’s attempting to survive by herself, but did she have to do it this recklessly?

Couldn’t she have worked a bit to make some cash and ensure her car was in good enough shape to make it all the way to Alaska? Why must she just go out and hope for the best? Without any background or context for her behavior, we will never know these answers. Instead we’re expected to accept the fact that she’s there, this string of bad luck happened, and we will sit and see how it works out. However, by the end, we’re left with the exact same questions we had at the start. Nothing is clarified and we still have no idea how the journey will finish.

I guess we aren’t supposed to know. This film seems to be a showcase for mood and life with its crazy ebbs and flows and how one overcomes them. Wendy meets her fair share of jerks as well as people who mean well but can’t see the bigger picture. She also finds a few kind souls doing their job with enough care and tact to realize a troubled girl when they see one before helping as much as they can without breaking their own backs or patronizing their recipient. As a result, we’re given a couple nice performances from Will Patton and Wally Dalton.

Patton plays the mechanic who realizes he can make a living without screwing over his customers. He gives his facts plain and simple yet with a human touch to show his sympathy and willingness to help without turning himself into a charity. Dalton is a Walgreens security guard who in effect watches over Wendy and becomes the heart of the entire film. A literal guardian angel, he ultimately sparks her bad luck by waking her to move her car only to discover it’s dead. But he soon becomes her greatest ally in finding a way out of Oregon to continue her migration north.

Amongst those standout roles and a story falling flat as it seeps so far into the background to become non-existent, it’s Michelle Williams who steals the show. Her strength and vulnerability are forever battling each other while her courage gets tested. This is a woman who can take care of herself yet still needs a companion like Lucy to survive what life throws at her. When that small bit of love is taken, she’s unable to cope with what needs to be done. Never searching for a handout, Williams’ Wendy is a transient being in search of meaning. I truly hope she finds it, I’m just sorry the film isn’t the vehicle to show if she will.