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Reichardt even forgoes a musical score in favour of the sound of passing trains. The performances are naturalistic and the locations unornamented. The style is simple but considered, and while Reichardt draws on social realist cinemas from both Italy and the UK, the film carries a stonewashed aesthetic that is distinctly American. This doesn’t equate to a compromised vision, though. The film was shot on a mere $200,000 with a bare bones cast and crew (including Reichardt’s own dog Lucy in the title role). Yet how can a system where everyone works as they should leaves some so dispossessed? Like the security guard who moves her, the shop assistant who detains her, and the police who arrest her, he’s just doing his job. She knows it would be useless to direct her ire at the mechanic. Wendy has to let go of the one thing that would enable her to leave the town, but she doesn’t argue. The shop assistant is later seen getting picked up by his mother as he leaves work this tiny, otherwise unremarkable detail speaks volumes about the meaning of freedom in a society organised so completely around privilege.Įventually Wendy visits the local mechanic, who instead of fixing the car declares it a write-off. Wendy is arrested and released – a process characterised by boredom and bureaucracy – in the meantime losing her money, her dog, and the opportunity to fix her car. Wendy shoplifts dog food and is caught by a teenage shop assistant who self-righteously insists on the rule of law – to the quiet regret of the more world-weary manager. Later the two bond, almost huddling together beneath the windowless concrete wall he guards, observing the slow, quiet demise of a small town. But this is no vindictive authority figure – rather he is sympathetic and helpful, as he knows something about economic hardship.
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In an early scene, Wendy is hassled by an aged security guard for sleeping in the car park. While any film involving a lost dog sounds primed to tug at the heartstrings, both the story and its telling are pointedly undramatic. With financial problems mounting up, Wendy is left at the mercy of the local residents, whose own kindnesses and cruelties have a disproportionate impact on the vulnerable traveler. The car breaks down, stranding them in a poor Oregon town, and then Lucy goes missing. They are heading north to Alaska in search of work in a salmon cannery. The itinerant Wendy (Williams) lives out of her car with her dog Lucy.