Kelly Reichardt

 

Writing about Kelly Reichardt‘s most recent feature Wendy and Lucy

(2008), critic Dennis Lim calls it “the exemplary cinema of a new era in America, confronting the harsh, economically precarious present with a measure of hope and humanity.” In the film, Michelle Williams plays a young woman with a dog who hits the road headed for Alaska but gets stuck along the way in a nameless small town – and nearly disappears from society. 

 

Kelly Reichardt’s films are both regional and universal, with a strong social awareness and a rough visual beauty reminiscent of the photographic work of William Eggleston. Since Old Joy (2006), the 45-year-old filmmaker has been considered one of the most distinctive and idiosyncratic voices of contemporary American cinema. This minimalist drama, the story of a reunion between two friends and their journey into the countryside, revolves around an indefinable sense of loss: the past cannot be retrieved, or re-lived. In her first film River of Grass (1994), Reichardt tapped into a similar, if more violent American tradition, represented by films such as Bonnie and Clyde or Badlands: the escape of two love-struck criminals from a bourgeois existence ends in disenchantment; the romanticism inherent in the notion of “outsiders on the road” can longer be accessed.

 

Reichardt’s extended ‘crew’ consists of the director Todd Haynes, who produced her recent films, the songwriter-mystic Will Oldham (who starred in Old Joy and often contributes music) and especially screenwriter Jon Raymond, with whom she collaborates on her screenplays. These artists are all part of a vibrant cultural scene closely linked to the city of Portland, Oregon.

 

The Film Museum presents Kelly Reichardt’s complete work, including her short and medium-length films such as the intimate tragedy, Ode (1999).