Wendy and Lucy

Open with a grainy train-yard scene and at least the genre of movie is set. This is not a flashy comic book hero or action film with crisp, clean lines. This is "real life". Wendy is on her way from Indiana to Alaska, in search of something better. She is stuck in a stereotypical Oregon town, where the mill has closed down and there are no jobs. And here she is faced with the decisions about what she is able to accomplish as an individual in this world. And it is here that I wonder what qualifies as a good movie. Clearly it is not just entertainment value. Good movies often provide another point of view, are informative, encourage solidarity, etc. without being entertaining at all.

The film did hit one chord exactly right. The sense of helplessness when particular situations are put upon you. You can't argue with the face of the problem even though you know you are right. In this case, Wendy encounters several of these cases. Watching Lucy as she is driven away from the grocery store, exchanging looks with the store owner when they both know the clerk is a prick, asking "Are you sure?" of the mechanic. Sometimes the bureaucracy wins, and the clerk is just a face dispensing justice without any power. This inability (or unwillingness) to rage against the injustice of bureaucracy places a sense of hopelessness over the film, (and Wendy embodies this sense) and ultimately pushes Wendy and Lucy down to the borderline for me.

Throughout, and in reflection afterward, I found myself feeling empty. Or perhaps longing. It is the same feeling I have on occasion when Annika is in an unknown location and I am waiting for her to come home, and she should be home now but isn't. Did something happen to her? All of the thoughts and emotions that flick across consciousness about what my life would be like without her. This is the same empty/longing feeling that was evoked during this movie. So, does that make it a good film? I don't like those feelings. And I don't necessarily feel like I need to feel solidarity with Wendy over her plight.

If you like feeling; and in particular feeling helpless, sad, alone and not-belonging, then you will love this movie. Otherwise, it may leave you empty, with a longing that you try to avoid. Either way it will stick with you.
3-stars