Kelly Reichardt’s SHOWS UP
RELIABLE YET ALWAYS SURPRISING
Attending a premiere of a Kelly Reichardt film is like having a coffee with a reliable old friend. Akin to how Ms. Kelly Reichardt returns to her very personal view of storytelling through film. Continuing one of her richest collaborations, director Kelly Reichardt reunites with her star of Certain Women, Michelle Williams for this joyously rendered portrait of a sculptor’s daily work and frustrations in an artists’ enclave in Portland. Lizzy (Williams) struggles to put the finishing touches on her latest pieces for a gallery show, all the while juggling admin work at the local art school; dealing with the neglect of her well-meaning landlord who also happens to be a rising-star conceptual artist; and tending to the emotional wellbeing of her challenging fragmented family. Cinematographer Christopher Blauvelt’s patient and steady camerawork, Reichardt ’s precisely considered editing, and Williams’s physically transformative performance come together to create a finely etched, at times humorous drama of the experience of being a creative person without leaning on the clichés that so often appear in films about artists.
Vincent Gagliostro
