Wendy and Lucy: A Girl and Her Dog: Part One

WENDY AND LUCY
(Kelly Reichardt, US, 2008, 80 mins)

If a person can't afford dog food, then they shouldn't have a dog.
--A grocery clerk sets Wendy straight

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Once upon a time, the great character actor L.Q. Jones (The Wild Bunch, The Ballad of Cable Hogue) directed a little post-apocalyptic picture called A Boy and His Dog. To some, it's best known because Jones directed it. To others, it's best known because Don Johnson starred in it. Either way, the title has a pleasingly matter-of-fact ring.

The same could be said about the third film from Old Joy's Kelly Reichardt. Wendy (Michelle Williams. Meek's Cutoff) may not be living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, like the dog lovers in A Boy or I Am Legend, but her situation isn't that much different from the homeless father and son in Cormac McCarthy's The Road (coming to the big screen later this year). All these duos have is each other. All Wendy has is her dog, Lucy.

When she first comes into view, Wendy is romping with Lucy in the Oregon woods as her humming permeates the soundtrack. In most movies, young person plus canine companion = good times. Wendy, as it turns out, is driving to Alaska to work in a cannery. Except for the golden retriever, she could be cinematic sister to Emile Hirsch's vagabond in Into the Wild as she's also traveled some distance to get to the Northwest, but she doesn't connect with other people the way he does. A glimpse at her notebook indicates that she originated in Nebraska or passed through it on the way to the West Coast. And that she's running out of money.

When her car won't start and the dog food runs out, it's clear that a world of hurt awaits. Yes, Wendy and Lucy is that kind of movie: the kind where the protagonist's situation goes from bad to worse before ending somewhere more enigmatic. As in Old Joy, Reichardt makes Wendy's trip into disappointment and diminished expectations one worth taking. Vittorio di Sica did the same in Bicycle Thieves and Umberto D. (the story of an old man and his dog), but it's tricky territory to navigate. And when Wendy breaks the law to provide for Lucy, the fix is in.

Click here for part two.

Wendy and Lucy opens at the Varsity Theater on Fri., 1/23. The Varsity is located at 4329 University Way NE. For more information, please call (206) 781-5755. As with Old Joy, Reichardt adapted the script from author/co-writer Jon Raymond's collection Livability (the original story is called "Train Choir"). Images from the IMDb (Michelle Williams and Lucy) Rotten Tomatoes (Don Johnson in A Boy and His Dog), and Oscilloscope Laboratories (Lucy, the director's dog), the new distribution company formed by Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys.

Tia Lessin: I Turn My Camera On, Part Three

A Chat with Tia Lessin (click here for part two)

Right: Kimberly Rivers Roberts clutches a favorite photo

How did Danny Glover come to be involved with Trouble the Water;
had he seen the completed film or had he seen a portion of it...?

I guess the film had been about two years in the making, so he saw the rough cut we had after we came back from the Sundance Labs, and he had heard about the film, and so he--it was actually Jocelyn Barnes, his producing partner, somebody I've known for many, many years, and I've always liked her work. She came to one of our-we were screening the film a lot over the fall to kind of hone it--and she came in, and she was pretty stunned, and we were really needing to finish things at that point, and she said, "I need to show it to him. He's really gonna love this film." And so shortly thereafter, we got a call from Danny, and he was very moved by it.

That's awesome, because I know he's not going to put his name on just anything. You can tell from his credits, whether it's a documentary or a fiction film, what's going to appeal to him. It fits in with his interests. I interviewed John Sayles last year about Honeydripper, and asked if he and Glover talked about politics while shooting, and he said, 'Yeah, we did a little bit,' because they're both such political people, but he said what they mostly talked about--and I'm sure Danny's mentioned this to you, as well--is the Haitian film he's working on.

Yeah, that's right.

John said it's his dream project, and he's working hard on that, and he has, fortunately-and unfortunately because it's kind of controversial-a friendship with Hugo Chavez, who's helping by letting him film in Venezuela. I was looking on the IMDb, and he's gathered this list of fantastic actors, so it looks pretty exciting.

A lot of high-value actors.

Yes, Don Cheadle and Chiwetel Ejiofor, sounds like he's getting things

together. I hope it all happens for him, because it sounds very ambitious.

They [Glover and Barnes] have created this company called Louverture-
after Toussaint Louverture, who their film is about-and so, yeah, they're
helping to support a lot of filmmakers who do work that is socially rele-
vant and commercially viable. It's wonderful. In other words, he's not
only lending his name, they're lending their resources as a company.

He came to town [to introduce Trouble the Water]. 

I'm sorry I missed him.

Yeah, he flew in from Senegal. He was there for a celebration of the filmmaker Ousmane Sembene, and flew straight from there to here. That was quite lovely.

Is it true, by the way, that he has a home in Portland? If so, that's kind of convenient. He was actually here--this is the second time I've missed him--just a few months ago with Charles Burnett for a screening of Namibia.

That's what I heard, at the African American Film Festival. I know
that he's got a home in Berkeley or Oakland--in the Bay Area.

So, I have to ask: Has Michael Moore seen Trouble the Water?

He absolutely has.

What did he say about it?

He saw it the first time when they flew us out
there. Ask him yourself--he was very proud.

He was here recently with Sicko, but I wasn't one
of the people who got the chance to interview him.

This film is quite informed by our working with him...

 But Kimberly [Rivers Roberts] is really the narrator.

That's right, but there are things in our film that you can see are influenced by Roger and Me and Fahrenheit 911. And it has a strong point of view. It's our point of view, but told by an outsider, so I don't think it has Moore's voice, but it has his spirit.
More to come...

Left: Kimberly and husband Scott

Oscar nominations will be announced on Thurs., Jan 22, and Trouble the Water remains a top doc contender. Though most play dates have passed, it continues at San Francisco's Sundance Kabuki Cinema through Feb 8. Lisa Schwarzbaum, David Denby, and Roger Ebert have included it on their top 10 lists. Images: Zeitgeist Films, Santa Barbara Independent, and the IMDb.