Cannes. Wendy and Lucy.

"When a film this small gets thrust under a spotlight this bright, you worry about that the movie itself will be overwhelmed," writes Karina Longworth at the SpoutBlog, reacting to the splashy coverage of Michelle Williams's surprise appearance in Cannes.

"I do hope this unlikely attention helps Wendy and Lucy get seen, but coming in with high expectations ([Kelly Reichardt's] Old Joy was one of my favorite films of its year), I was a bit underwhelmed.... Wendy and Lucy has the bleak, but it never explores the light. It hits its single tone perfectly, but it's still a single tone."

"Reichardt is no pessimist and her compassion for Wendy and belief in the kindness of strangers make for an optimistic film which should serve to build her already strong US reputation on an international scale," writes Mike Goodridge in Screen Daily. "Williams is superb here, unbeautified and effortlessly natural as a woman driving a clapped out Honda from her homestate of Indiana to Alaska in search of lucrative work at a fish cannery."

Un Certain Regard.

Updates, 5/24: "Like Old Joy which tracks two friends on a short trip to the country, Wendy and Lucy is political to the bone but without any of the usual grandstanding," writes Manohla Dargis in the New York Times. "As of Thursday night's screening, though distributors were circling the room, this pitch-perfect triumph had yet to attract an American buyer. It will."

"I've seen films about genocide at this year's festival, I've seen films about corruption, about terrible crimes, about war and about murder, but nothing cut me to the quick like Wendy and Lucy, which is about a girl who loses her dog." For Alison Willmore, Reichardt has "created something of incredible emotional genuineness that's one of my favorites in the festival."

Updates, 5/27: "Because the film focuses entirely on Wendy and her relationship with her dog, Williams has to carry the film entirely, and she does so remarkably," writes Kim Voynar at Cinematical.

"Wendy's self-sufficient routine has a introverted, bitter stability, but her deep reliance on Lucy as the sole discernible human, emotional, tender existence in her life predictably, but movingly brings Wendy to a frazzled crisis," writes Daniel Kasman in the Auteurs' Notebook. "Will Oldham's childish, nostalgic, and lyrical hummed theme for Wendy and her dog neatly encapsulates the film, which attacks a simple, sad theme with an exemplary, but modest cast and crew, who bring a powerfully sympathetic approach. The sadness is natural, and therefore all the more sad, and it takes a patience, a kindness, and a calm to bring an inner life, however painful, to such a film."

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Coverage of the coverage: Cannes 08.

Last year: Cannes @ 60. And Cannes 06.

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Posted by dwhudson at May 23, 2008 1:08 PM