Directed by Terrence Malick After seeing Kelly Reichardt's Meek's Cutoff (2010) I suddenly wished to see what her version of Into the Wild might've looked like. It's her stark, unromantic approach to her characters and worldview that I wanted to see layered onto other movies that I felt perhaps watered down or otherwise distorted the essence of … Continue reading A Hidden Life (2019)
kelly reichardt
Wendy and Lucy (2008)
Directed by Kelly Reichardt Watching someone get caught shoplifting gives me so much anxiety. I don't mean in real life but in movies. There's always some mix of justice with ego and self-righteousness. We understand why, for example, Wendy (Michelle Williams) tries to steal an apple and a can of dog food, but the person … Continue reading Wendy and Lucy (2008)
Meek’s Cutoff (2010)
Directed by Kelly Reichardt In Meek's Cutoff a small group consisting of three families and a hired guide get lost on their way to the Willamette Valley. They are already lost when we meet them, and they remain lost when we leave them. In the middle there is some deliberation, drama and finally the breakdown of … Continue reading Meek’s Cutoff (2010)
Certain Women (2016)
Directed by Kelly Reichardt Certain Women tells the story of three women in a small Montana town. Their lives intersect but not to any noteworthy degree, instead just passing by like the characters in Richard Linklater's Slacker. This overlapping quality has little to no dramatic momentum and instead just further fleshes out the world, to take … Continue reading Certain Women (2016)
Night Moves (2013)
Directed by Kelly Reichardt In Night Moves three ecoterrorists hatch a plan to blow up a dam. The first half of the film is seen through their eyes, and the second half, after the successful demolition, looks at them from the outside. It is thus a film that neither glorifies nor demonizes their pursuit but instead … Continue reading Night Moves (2013)
River of Grass (1994)
Directed by Kelly Reichardt In River of Grass an existentially bored housewife searches for an identity. The story concerns her, a similarly lonely loose cannon and a lost gun. She is Cozy, he is Lee (Larry Fessenden), and the gun belongs to her detective father. That they are all so neatly connected perhaps stretches plausibility, but … Continue reading River of Grass (1994)
