Wendy & Lucy (2008)

In this American independent drama we encounter a young girl, Wendy, with her beloved dog Lucy while they are stranded in a godforsaken town in Oregon for a few days. They are on their way to Alaska. Wendy's car breaks down in this place, so she is forced to wait for it to get repaired. When she is arrested for shoplifting (dog food) her dog disappears. While we watch her look for Lucy for days, we are shown an intimate momentary portrait of Wendy's life as a homeless traveller, who is "just passing through". We do not know her background exactly, we are kind of encouraged by bits and pieces to make up a story in our minds. One example would be her calling her sister and her husband, just to hear a voice and talk about her worries, but we hear no compassion on the other end of the line. There is nobody to go back to. Her family is her dog, her house is her car...
The camera often stays very close and vis-à-vis to her face, in which we can see her desperation but also strong determination to keep going - to Alaska. Michelle Williams plays Wendy authentically; I believe her subtle introverted expressions, and I feel compassion towards her when she is forced to make certain decisions.
As abandonded and lost the post-industrial town may seem through the images the filmmaker choses to show us, with the blue-ish tint to the film and mostly railroad tracks and unemployed people, certain characters still stand out as being helpful and friendly in a simple kind of way, even to strangers - not expecting anything in return. I am thinking especially of the Walgreens security man whom Wendy briefly befriends, and who doesn't have a lot of money, but who in the end still shares what he has. We only catch glimpses of people's lives in this film, as if we ourselves were passing through ---

Director: Kelly Reichardt



- Nicole