Showing Up (2023)

Direction: Kelly Reichardt
Country: USA 

American independent filmmaker Kelly Reichardt is one of the most consistent storytellers of our times. In her eighth feature, Showing Up, the director of First Cow (2019) captures the artistic community of Portland and trivializes it in a positive way. For this comedy-drama film, she teams up again with one of her favorite actors, Michelle Williams. It’s their fourth collaboration after Wendy and Lucy (2008), Meek’s Cutoff (2010) and Certain Women (2016).

Williams is Lizzy, an uptight artist in socks and crocs who is not confident enough about her work. She has no hot water for a while and is forced to take care of a damaged pigeon brought by her best friend, neighbor and landlady, Jo (Hong Chau), who is also an artist. One can feel some tense rivalry between the two but also closeness and affection. Aside this aspect, and on the eve of an important exhibition, Lizzy has to deal with her dysfunctional family - a mother (Maryann Plunkett) in denial, an excessively convivial father (Judd Hirsch) who seems not to care about a thing, and an isolated brother (John Magaro) with mental problems. 

I must admit that, due to its drowsy tone and lazy pace, the film may feel apathetic and unresponsive at times, almost as if it has no direction. One needs to give it time to develop and compose. With each step, the story gains depth, the characters get a clearer shape, and topics start to work appropriately together. The notion that artists are people with common problems gives the film a human dimension, and there's a wise exploration of the intricacies between artistic creation and the ordinary, everyday life. 

Reichardt is subtle but incisive in her analysis. Showing Up is an observant, critical, gently lilting, and hyper-realistic account that uniquely captures the inner world of an introverted and peculiar artist.

First Cow (2020)

Direction: Kelly Reichardt
Country: USA

The illustrious helmer Kelly Reichardt drew inspiration from Jonathan Raymond’s novel The Half Life, to deliver a multi-ethnic rural ballad titled First Cow. This is not the first time Reichardt works with Raymond. The Oregon-based writer is her regular collaborator, also credited for the screenplays of Old Joy (2006), Wendy and Lucy (2008), Meek’s Cutoff (2010) and Night Moves (2013).

Here, Reichardt's slow-burning style is loaded with lush, impeccably framed images where the magnificent use of light creates beautiful tonal contrasts. 

With John Magaro and Orion Lee in the leading roles, the film, set in the 1820’s Oregon, centers in the friendship and artful practices of two men, Cookie Figowitz (Magaro), a quiet traveler and excellent cook, and King-Lu (Lee), a sympathetic Chinese immigrant on the run. Both men have dreams of their own and seek opportunities to thrive in the Oregon Territory, which seems to have been the right choice when they start improving their finances by selling daily batches of homemade oily biscuits. The problem is that their secret ingredient, cow milk, is stolen from Chief Factor (Toby Jones), a wealthy Englishman who has a property in the settlement and owns the only cow milk in the whole region.

Evoking the old Western style, this is subtle, intimate cinema devised with pinpoint accuracy, disarming minimalism and arthouse proneness. A wisely crafted ode to friendship that is also an engrossing survival tale. It’s possible that the finale, abrupt as it is, may frustrate some viewers, but Reichardt’s sharp lens hypnotizes all the way through, influencing the mood and defining the surroundings with a legitimate purpose.

Certain Women (2016)

Directed by Kelly Reichardt
Country: USA

Kelly Reichardt’s quirky filmmaking always has this distinctive ability to keep us alert, even when the pace is unchangeable and the stories apparent to be lukewarm at the first sight.
Masterworks of the independent cinema like “Old Joy”, “Wendy and Lucy”, “Meek’s Cutoff”, and “Night Moves”, turned her into one of the most well-regarded filmmakers of our times. 
“Certain Women”, is another realistic and profound drama that tells the story of four American women whose destinies come across. Its sturdy foundation comprises elements such as human sincerity, emotional sensitivity, and stunning frames whose powerful cinematography enhances the immaculate performances of Laura Dern, Michelle Williams, Lily Gladstone, and Kristen Stewart.
For this work, Ms. Reichardt sought inspiration on short stories from Maile Meloy's collection “Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It”.

Set in Montana, all the stories in some way deal with loneliness, relationships, work, and limitation, exhibiting precious subtleties that stimulate our minds and spike our curiosity. It’s remarkable how the movie grabs our intellect without resorting to any action scene, agitated dialogue, or sudden events. This aspect results from intelligence in the approach and a winning confidence behind the camera.

During the first story, we find Laura Wells (Dern), a confident and independent lawyer who has been getting repeated visits from a disconsolate client, Fuller (Jared Harris), after he has lost his job. Facing the impossibility of suing his company, Fuller falls into a deeper emotional crisis when his wife decides to leave him. The anguish makes him confess his frightful intentions.
The second story follows a hard-working woman, Gina (Williams), who lives a solitary life in a secluded place, despite sharing her life with a lazy husband (James Le Gros) and a teen daughter. The couple decides to pay a visit to Albert (René Auberjonois), an elderly and lonely man, and persuade him to sell the sandstones on his property. The material would serve to build up their new house. Yet, Gina’s approach lacks honesty.
The third story tells us the struggle of Jamie (Gladstone), who works on a farm as a horse taker, to avoid isolation during wintertime. Unexpectedly, after following people into a classroom, she befriends with a law teacher, Elizabeth Travis (Stewart), another solitary soul looking for a better and more comfortable life.

“Certain Women” possesses a disconcerting exquisiteness when addressing the sadness associated with the lives of its characters. The silences intensify their emotional states and speak volumes, producing a bittersweet effect that remains for a long time after the final credits.
The sturdy hand of a magnificent film architect, who expresses herself with original sculpting techniques, shapes ordinary people with all their strengths and weaknesses. Ms. Reichardt’s cinema is more meditative than rousing, elusively beautiful in its conception, and constructed further beyond artistic superficiality. 
I’m eagerly waiting for her next move.