Two Ifs By the Road

Playing tonight at the Miami Beach Cinematheque is one of 2008’s finest films, one that you probably didn’t see: a shining indie gem called Wendy and Lucy.

The film’s story is quite simple: Wendy (Michelle Williams) is driving to Alaska, hoping for a summer of lucrative work at a fish cannery, and the promise of a new life with her dog, Lucy.

But when her beat-up ol’ car breaks down in Oregon – and she loses Lucy – both the thin fabric of her financial situation and her emotions come apart, and so Wendy must confront a series of increasingly tough decisions, with repercussions for herself and Lucy that will change their lives forever.

See – simple. But no less fantastic.

Wendy and Lucy succeeds in that it’s such a beautifully shot and told film (remember the name of its maker, Kelly Reichardt). Williams is a reckoning as Wendy, really – she’s engaging, she’s graceful, and she’s vulnerable – a quiet dynamo.

This is a tender, nuanced poem that astutely comments, without compromise, on the down-on-its-luck mood of these United States of America, and the choices we have to make to survive.

Wendy and Lucy is a must.

My Rating ****

Photo: Oscilloscope Pictures.