Plot
A woman's life is derailed en route to a potentially lucrative summer job. When her car breaks down...
Release Year: 2008
Rating: 7.1/10 (6,983 voted)
Critic's Score: 80/100
Director:
Kelly Reichardt
Stars: Michelle Williams, Lucy, David Koppell
Storyline A woman's life is derailed en route to a potentially lucrative summer job. When her car breaks down, and her dog is taken to the pound, the thin fabric of her financial situation comes apart, and she is led through a series of increasingly dire economic decisions.
Writers: Kelly Reichardt, Jonathan Raymond
Cast: Michelle Williams
-
Wendy
Lucy
-
Lucy the Dog
David Koppell
-
Kid by Fire
Max Clement
-
Kid by Fire
Sid Shanley
-
Kid by Fire
Dave Hubner
-
Kid by Fire
Michelle Worthey
-
Sadie
Will Oldham
-
Icky
Wally Dalton
-
Security Guard
(as Walter Dalton)
Roger D. Faires
-
Recycler in Wheelchair
(as Roger Faires)
Boggs Johnson
-
Recycling Man
Tanya Smith
-
Grocery Checker
Michael Brophy
-
Grocery Store Stocker
John Robinson
-
Andy
John Breen
-
Mr. Hunt
Taglines:
On the long road, friendship is everything.
Opening Weekend: $18,218
(USA)
(14 December 2008)
(2 Screens)
Gross: $856,942
(USA)
(26 April 2009)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
USA:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
A friend of the director allowed Michelle Williams and her daughter to stay in their guest house during filming.
Quotes: Andy:
[after catching her for shoplifting]
The food is not the issue. It's about setting an example, right? Wendy:
Sir, I'm not from around here. I can't be an example.
User Review
A Sleeper Worth Waking Up For by Andrew Malekoff
Rating: 8/10
To say that this film is spare is to be generous; and, to whatever
extent actors become their characters, Michelle Williams becomes Wendy,
a young woman that is hanging by a thread. Wendy is doing her best,
with little support and money, to survive day to day and to maintain
her dignity. Along the way she loses her dog Lucy, the only stable and
loving relationship in her life. Ultimately, she is faced with making a
heartbreaking decision that their mutual welfare will depend upon. As
her car (and bed) breaks down and resources dwindle, she collects cans
and bottles and shoplifts dog food. She encounters a group of homeless
people making a fire, a self-righteous store clerk, a smug auto
mechanic, a sympathetic security guard, and a psychotic drifter, among
others. We see each of them from the perspective of a young woman on
the verge of economic collapse and who is gradually being transformed
into someone facing the possibility of homeless destitution. Wendy
offers a lens through which we can see such a transformation evolve.
All homeless people, unless born into this condition, were something
and somewhere else first. Wendy is such a person. As the economy
declines and more and more people retreat into survival mode, it will
be harder for them, for us, to empathize with the Wendys of the world,
young people with once bright futures now facing desperate and maybe
devastating times. I have heard it said that empathy is the first
hostage of survival. Wendy and Lucy is an important little film, a
slice of life, that not enough people will see and that offers us a
window on what more and more young people will be facing for some time
to come. This film pleads with us not to close our eyes or turn our
backs on them.
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