''Wendy and Lucy'' is a 2008 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Kelly Reichardt Kelly Reichardt (; born March 3, 1964) is an American film director and screenwriter. She is known for her minimalist films closely associated with slow cinema, many of which deal with working-class characters in small, rural communities. Reich ...

. Reichardt and

Jon Raymond Jonathan Raymond is an American writer living in Portland, Oregon. He is best known for writing the novels ''The Half-Life'' and ''Rain Dragon'', and for writing the short stories and novels adapted for the films '' Old Joy'', ''Wendy and Lucy'', ...

adapted the screenplay from his short story ''Train Choir''. The film stars Michelle Williams as Wendy, a homeless woman who searches for her lost dog, Lucy (played by Reichardt's own dog of that name, who had previously appeared in ''

Old Joy ''Old Joy'' is a 2006 American road movie written and directed by Kelly Reichardt and based on a short story by Jonathan Raymond. The original soundtrack for the film is by Yo La Tengo and included on the compilation soundtrack album '' They Shoo ...

''). It had its world premiere at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival and was screened at several additional film festivals before receiving a limited theatrical release in the United States on December 10, 2008.

Plot

A young woman, Wendy Carroll, is traveling to

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

with her dog Lucy, where she hopes to find work at a

cannery Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container (jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although un ...

. They become stranded in

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

when their car breaks down, and she lacks the funds to repair it. At a supermarket, she leaves Lucy outside while she attempts to

shoplift Shoplifting is the theft of goods from an open retail establishment, typically by concealing a store item on one's person, in pockets, under clothes or in a bag, and leaving the store without paying. With clothing, shoplifters may put on items ...

dog food. After a meeting with the store clerk and the manager, Wendy is apprehended and taken to the police station. After paying a fine, Wendy is released from police custody. She hurries to the grocery store, but Lucy is gone. After many failed efforts to track Lucy down, with the help of a security guard, she discovers that Lucy has been taken to a dog pound and rehomed. When Wendy visits the mechanic to pick up her car, she learns her engine needs to be rebuilt, which would exceed the car's worth. Abandoning her car and nearly penniless, Wendy goes to the home where Lucy lives. She tearfully promises to return and departs on a Northbound train.

Cast

* Michelle Williams as Wendy Carroll * Walter Dalton as Security guard *

Will Patton William Rankin Patton (born June 14, 1954) is an American actor and audiobook narrator. He starred as Colonel Dan Weaver in the TNT science fiction series '' Falling Skies''. He also appeared in the films ''Remember the Titans'', ''Armageddon'' ...

as Mechanic *

Will Oldham Joseph Will Oldham (born January 15, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded in collaboration with dozens of other musicians under variations of Palace (Palace, Palace Flophouse, Palace Br ...

as Icky * John Robinson as Andy Mooney *

Larry Fessenden Laurence T. Fessenden (born March 23, 1963) is an American actor, producer, writer, director, film editor, and cinematographer. He is the founder of the New York based independent production outfit Glass Eye Pix. His writer/director credits inclu ...

as Man in Park *

Deirdre O'Connell Eleanore Deirdre O'Connell (16 June 1939 – 9 June 2001) was an Irish American actress, singer, and theatre director who founded the Focus Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Biography O'Connell was born in the South Bronx district of New York City, o ...

(''voice'') as Deb * Lucy as Herself

Release

Box office

In its opening weekend, ''Wendy and Lucy'' grossed $18,218 in 2 theaters in the United States, ranking #54 at the box office. By the end of its run, ''Wendy and Lucy'' grossed $865,695 domestically and $326,960 internationally for a worldwide total of $1,192,655.

Critical reception

The film has received generally positive reviews from critics. On the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

site

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an 85% approval rating among 185 critics, with an average score of 7.4/10. The site's consensus reads "Michelle Williams gives a heartbreaking performance in ''Wendy and Lucy'', a timely portrait of loneliness and struggle". On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 80 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The film won both Best Picture and Best Actress at the 12th Toronto Film Critics Association Awards.

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wendy And Lucy 2008 films 2008 drama films American drama films American independent films Films based on short fiction Films directed by Kelly Reichardt Films shot in Oregon Films shot in Portland, Oregon 2008 independent films Films shot in 16 mm film 2000s English-language films 2000s American films