WENDY AND LUCY

Directed By: Kelly Reichardt

Review By: Kim Jindra

WENDY AND LUCY is the personal story of a working class gal who drives across the country in hopes of a better life.  We've seen it a dozen times.  But Michelle Williams saves this film from mediocrity.  She owns the screen as Wendy which is hard to do when your co star is a dog as cute as Lucy. 

Wendy gives us the impression she is running from something but the audience is in the dark.  We do learn her car trunk is crammed full of clothes, pictures and personal items, she has a strict accounting system and she is not adept at shoplifting.  We also see she is so crazy about Lucy she winds up in jail.  Her brief incarceration causes Lucy to go missing.    And that's just part of the story.

It seems Wendy can't catch a break.  When she calls home for moral support her sister gives her the cold shoulder.  Wendy is stuck in a logging town where half the people are out of work, without a place to stay once her car is towed to a shop, and only a Shell gas station sink for a shower.  She does find a friend in the night watchman (Wally Dalton) of a local pharmacy.  He offers a kind ear and the use of his mobile phone.

This would have been a familiar melodramatic mess if not for Williams.  She was at her best during the quiet moments of the film.   I especially liked the scenes in the woods but must admit she had me worried during her night sleeping in the wild.  Will Patton reminded me of my mechanic in Denton, TX.  This is a nice lesson in self-reliance and survival.