WENDY AND LUCY Special Screenings

Wendy is alone save for her dog, Lucy, and traveling toward Alaska in hopes of finding seasonal employment. Then her car breaks down and Lucy vanishes. Avoiding the usual cliches of class-conflict melodrama, Kelly Reichardt (OLD JOY) manages to give us a sense of, what everyday economic desperation feels like through Wendy’s encounters with a security guard (Wally Dolton) whose cell phone provides Wendy’s connection to the dog pound; a mechanic (Will Patton) who dispenses the art of auto maintenance; and a wandering psycho (Larry Fessenden). Shot in just 20 days on the streets of Portland, Oregon, the film presents an indelible , deliberately unsensational picture of poverty in contemporary America. Michelle Williams (BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN) gives a superb performance as Wendy, who, in spite of mounting difficulties, always maintains her quiet dignity. With WENDY AND LUCY, Reichardt, with a nod to the legendary Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostomi, delivers on austere, meditative essay on America’s have-nots. It’s her most important work to dote and confirms her place among the most innovative independent filmmakers working today.