Kelly Reichardt

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senseabove
Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2015 3:07 am

Kelly Reichardt

#1 Post by senseabove » Wed Aug 08, 2018 2:28 am

Kelly Reichardt (1964 -)

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"One question that seems to come up over and over again in all my movies is: What is our relationship to each other? ... Questions about community. Do you want to live in an each man for himself world or a world where you can bump into a stranger and give the benefit of the doubt to someone you don’t know? Are we in this all together or are we just supposed to make our way, keep blinders on, and not care about the person standing next to us? I think those questions about community keep coming up over and over again in these films because they’re seeded in the stories that the scripts are coming from. And, I think those are interesting questions."

Filmography

Features
River of Grass (1993) R1/A Soda/Oscilloscope
Old Joy (2006) R1/A Soda
Wendy and Lucy (2008) R1/A Soda/Oscilloscope
Meek’s Cutoff (2011) R1/A Soda/Oscilloscope
Night Moves (2013) R1/A Cinedigm
Certain Women (2016) R1/A Criterion
First Cow (2019)

Shorts
Ode (1999)
Then, a Year (2002)
Travis (2004)

Music Videos
Dumptruck - "Back Where I Belong" (1986)
Dumptruck - "Secrets" (1986)
Big Dipper - "Faith Healer" (1987)
Christmas - "Superheroes" (1992)
Helmet - "Bad Mood" (1992) [co-directed with Jesse Hartman]

Print Resources
Kelly Reichardt: Emergency and the everyday, Katherine Fusco & Nicole Seymour (U. Illinois Press, 2017)
ReFocus: The Films of Kelly Reichardt, E. Dawn Hall (U. Edinburgh Press, 2018)

Web Resources
Great Directors Profile at Senses of Cinema
Kelly Reichardt [interviewed] by Todd Haynes, Bomb, Oct. 1, 1995
Kelly Reichardt in Conversation (video, 18 min., BFI, March 15, 2017)
Interview: Kelly Reichardt on Certain Women and the Politics of Anger
2020 interview with Tim Grierson, MEL Magazine
2020 audio interview with Olivier Assayas, Talkhouse

Forum Discussion
Old Joy (Kelly Reichardt 2005)
Wendy and Lucy (Kelly Reichardt, 2008)
Meek's Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt, 2011)
893 Certain Women

[MOD NOTE: thanks to JamesF for his contributions!]

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senseabove
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Re: Kelly Reichardt

#2 Post by senseabove » Wed Aug 08, 2018 2:38 am

I've started working my way through a completion/rewatch of Reichardt's films with a friend, and had some questions that didn't seem to have other suitable places, so figured I'd start this thread.

First, does anyone know if the shorts are available anywhere in decent quality? Travis is on YouTube, and Ode is there in five parts, but the last part has been deleted.

Second, has there been any news about her next project? I know after Certain Women came out she announced she was working on an adaptation of Patrick DeWitt's novel Undermajordomo Minor, but I couldn't find anything about it that didn't date from (or seem to source it's info from) around the release of Certain Women...

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JamesF
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Re: Kelly Reichardt

#3 Post by JamesF » Wed Aug 08, 2018 5:52 am

senseabove wrote:
Wed Aug 08, 2018 2:28 am
Night Moves (2013, 112 min.) (BD: Cinedigm)
Pardon the gratuitous plug but Soda's Blu-Ray of Night Moves may also be of interest to Reichardt fans as we were able to secure a few short extras not on the (vanilla) Cinedigm disc, including an interview with Reichardt. Review with details of the disc here.

Here's some early music videos directed by Reichardt pre-River Of Grass:
"Back Where I Belong" by Dumptruck (1986)
"Secrets" by Dumptruck (1986)
"Faith Healer" by Big Dipper" (1987)
"Superheroes" by Christmas (1992)
"Bad Mood" by Helmet (1992) (co-directed with Jesse Hartman)

She also directed a video for "The Backyard" by Miracle Legion in 1986 but I can't find that online. Two other early Super-8 shorts not listed in the opening post are Roadmovies: A Trilogy (1984-86) and Home Movies (1998); she was still listing them (and the music videos) in her bio as late as 2006 but has quietly let them disappear since.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Kelly Reichardt

#4 Post by mfunk9786 » Wed Aug 08, 2018 9:37 am

Very nice work, but in the future please leave filmmaker thread creation to a moderator or DarkImbecile. That way we don't have superfluous or at times redundant threads created. Thank you!

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senseabove
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Re: Kelly Reichardt

#5 Post by senseabove » Wed Aug 08, 2018 12:15 pm

JamesF wrote:
Wed Aug 08, 2018 5:52 am
senseabove wrote:
Wed Aug 08, 2018 2:28 am
Night Moves (2013, 112 min.) (BD: Cinedigm)
Pardon the gratuitous plug but Soda's Blu-Ray of Night Moves may also be of interest to Reichardt fans as we were able to secure a few short extras not on the (vanilla) Cinedigm disc, including an interview with Reichardt. Review with details of the disc here.

Here's some early music videos directed by Reichardt pre-River Of Grass:
"Back Where I Belong" by Dumptruck (1986)
"Secrets" by Dumptruck (1986)
"Faith Healer" by Big Dipper" (1987)
"Superheroes" by Christmas (1992)
"Bad Mood" by Helmet (1992) (co-directed with Jesse Hartman)

She also directed a video for "The Backyard" by Miracle Legion in 1986 but I can't find that online. Two other early Super-8 shorts not listed in the opening post are Roadmovies: A Trilogy (1984-86) and Home Movies (1998); she was still listing them (and the music videos) in her bio as late as 2006 but has quietly let them disappear since.
Great! Thanks! I'd heard she did one for Helmet, but I didn't realize she'd done that many music videos, and I didn't think to try to track 'em down for inclusion here.

And the Soda release of Night Moves is the one I actually have, which I imported after considering both releases! It just slipped my mind...Sorry! It's the last of Reichardt's features I've to watch, and I plan on getting to it next week, so I would've realized my mistake then.

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senseabove
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Re: Kelly Reichardt

#6 Post by senseabove » Wed Aug 08, 2018 12:19 pm

mfunk9786 wrote:
Wed Aug 08, 2018 9:37 am
Very nice work, but in the future please leave filmmaker thread creation to a moderator or DarkImbecile. That way we don't have superfluous or at times redundant threads created. Thank you!
No toes meant to be stepped on, mfunk. I did read the guidelines, which say that after researching to ensure no duplication, "you can request a first post from me in advance of initiating a discussion on a heretofore neglected filmmaker or create one yourself..."

Happy to ping mods in the future, but the Filmmakers Forum Guidelines might need a tweak if that's the law of the land.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Kelly Reichardt

#7 Post by mfunk9786 » Wed Aug 08, 2018 12:34 pm

You are absolutely correct. No offense was taken by anyone here. It's just a bear to keep organized if threads are being created within it, but that isn't your fault.

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senseabove
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Re: Kelly Reichardt

#8 Post by senseabove » Wed Jul 24, 2019 6:58 pm

Just noting that Old Joy is coming from Criterion. Discussion here: viewtopic.php?p=666553#p666553


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therewillbeblus
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Re: Kelly Reichardt

#10 Post by therewillbeblus » Fri Mar 06, 2020 12:37 pm

I like Kelly Reichardt, but man she took a few details from the Tarantino film and created her own film from it in a few sentences. No need to jumpstart that conversation again, but what a leap! (And, if going by my own reading of the film, completely missing the point on DiCaprio's sensitive and vulnerable anti-macho core seeking emotional validation, not to mention the implication of the viewer's interest in this empathic space too). I don't "get" the things she's talking about either, and completely align with her on what she's saying outside of that context, but we clearly saw a different movie.

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DarkImbecile
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Re: Kelly Reichardt

#11 Post by DarkImbecile » Sat Mar 07, 2020 6:10 pm

Reichardt and Olivier Assayas discuss their latest films, compare their writing and shooting methods, and investigate how their respective pasts inform their work in this Talkhouse podcast

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DeprongMori
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Re: Kelly Reichardt

#12 Post by DeprongMori » Sat Aug 01, 2020 5:39 pm

I’d been looking to find some of Kelly Reichardt’s short films that were done in the hiatus between her debut River of Grass in 1994 and her breakthrough Old Joy in 2006. I was finally able to track down Travis from 2004. It’s a remarkable film — visually abstract with a repeated and layered recording of a woman’s voice repeating a series of phrases. And while the narrated story eventually comes into focus, the visual subject remains lost and available only to memory.

The abstract nature of Travis was utterly outside the mode familiar to those who know her feature films, which have a visual specificity and intercharacter intimacy, but I found it both mesmerizing and compelling.

If you like Reichardt’s work or abstract film, check it out.

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knives
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Re: Kelly Reichardt

#13 Post by knives » Tue Aug 04, 2020 10:59 am

No he doesn't. He does it in two actions. The first successfully pulling off a role and the second making a small connection with a human as personified by Tate.
Last edited by knives on Tue Aug 04, 2020 1:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Kelly Reichardt

#14 Post by therewillbeblus » Tue Aug 04, 2020 1:26 pm

knives is right (though I think it’s a bit more complicated than that, since Cliff Booth’s friendship and encouragement is vital to his developing self-esteem), and if that’s not ‘enough’ remember that the point of the movie is that it is a movie where this catharsis can happen based on minimal actions and not an entire life story of realist therapy. To fault it for that is to miss the point of Tarantino’s aims, and take issue with the limitations of movies rather than the marvel at what they can achieve.

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JamesF
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Re: Kelly Reichardt

#15 Post by JamesF » Tue Aug 04, 2020 1:56 pm

I mean, judging by Tarantino's well-publicised dumping on Meek's Cutoff, it's very clear that he and Reichardt don't have compatible outlooks on cinema or life in general, so probably best not to make too much of her comments on OUATIH.

No sign of a release date (or even a distributor) for First Cow in the UK yet - might have to pre-order the US Blu.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Kelly Reichardt

#16 Post by therewillbeblus » Tue Aug 04, 2020 2:23 pm

Each artist unpacks male friendship in their own way, and I could lob reasons why Reichardt’s attempts don’t get at the complexities of Tarantino’s, and vice versa, but would never dub them “bull” and close the door condescendingly without an argument. JamesF is right, they’re just too different.

As for Reichardt’s film, I liked First Cow, especially once it hit a stride in its rhythm and emerged as a parallel story of friendship and
SpoilerShow
a naturalist agricultural heist movie
I agree with senseabove that her films tend to benefit from multiple viewings to take everything in. Then again so does the work in question of He Who Must Not Be Named

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senseabove
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Re: Kelly Reichardt

#17 Post by senseabove » Tue Aug 04, 2020 2:51 pm

The "bull" jab was just an honest joke. Even if I on the whole liked OUATIH, one of my many quibbles with Tarantino in general is his planetary-sized gravitational pull on film discussions, such as being now about as frequently mentioned in this thread as the subject of the thread. And yes, I'm aware we're talking about him because Reichardt brought up and dismissed OUATIH, but that's more to my point than against it. I could never see his name written again, especially in this thread, and I'd be perfectly, blissfully happy, and that's my argument.

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swo17
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Re: Kelly Reichardt

#18 Post by swo17 » Tue Aug 04, 2020 2:53 pm

I like QT (sorry, senseabove!) but if he makes me choose between him and Reichardt, he's gonna lose that battle

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Kelly Reichardt

#19 Post by therewillbeblus » Tue Aug 04, 2020 3:19 pm

So your argument is rooted in how you’d personally want the thread to go, and you chose to reach that goal by reducing the worth of his last film to two words? That’s only going to bring forth more defenses, especially when you’re aware of a “gravitational pull.” I’m a fan of his work, but only find this film to be a very specific case where I’m quick to defend because I believe it is far denser than others want to give it credit for. My counter argument is that the emotional value of it has been unfairly dismissed (or misread, hence what started today’s conversation) by people who have a chip on their shoulder against him for the reasons you state, or based on his other often unapologetically shallow works. Dismissing an artist or their work based on the trend of discussions others make in defense of their films is also an odd argument.

Anyways, I do think this thread is sadly lacking in conversation about Reichardt herself, which makes the ongoing debate accumulate into an unfortunately sizable percentage of the thread. In an effort to change that, I’ll say that Night Moves is one of my favorites of her works, mostly because it takes the thriller model and whittles it down to a real-time drama. The film’s rhythm mimics the slightly elevated heartbeat of someone breaking the law (outside of an exaggerated high-intensity robbery scenario), and that deconstruction of an eco-thriller into the pace of the thrills of actual ecological beings is fascinating. I think she does something similar but reversed in Wendy and Lucy, taking a more deceptively ‘lowkey drama’ story and building it as a realistic ascending anxiety attack to become a thriller.

Also, Reichardt taught film at my sister’s college and she never took one of her classes, which still pains me to this day ten years later, selfishly because I want to know how she teaches film in a live setting.

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knives
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Re: Kelly Reichardt

#20 Post by knives » Tue Aug 04, 2020 3:45 pm

therewillbeblus wrote:
Tue Aug 04, 2020 3:19 pm
Also, Reichardt taught film at my sister’s college and she never took one of her classes, which still pains me to this day ten years later, selfishly because I want to know how she teaches film in a live setting.
Ha, I literally had my sister take a class with Gorin under basically the same circumstances. She enjoyed it.

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TheKieslowskiHaze
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Re: Kelly Reichardt

#21 Post by TheKieslowskiHaze » Tue Aug 04, 2020 3:57 pm

senseabove wrote:
Tue Aug 04, 2020 2:51 pm
Even if I on the whole liked OUATIH, one of my many quibbles with Tarantino in general is his planetary-sized gravitational pull on film discussions, such as being now about as frequently mentioned in this thread as the subject of the thread. And yes, I'm aware we're talking about him because Reichardt brought up and dismissed OUATIH, but that's more to my point than against it. I could never see his name written again, especially in this thread, and I'd be perfectly, blissfully happy, and that's my argument.
That's my fault. Apologies.
therewillbeblus wrote:Also, Reichardt taught film at my sister’s college and she never took one of her classes, which still pains me to this day ten years later, selfishly because I want to know how she teaches film in a live setting.
Bard? I went there (pre Kelly R), but the school's association with her and Todd Haynes is a point of film-snob pride. (Philip Roth being burried there a point of lit-snob pride)
senseabove wrote:(NB: I've only seen Night Moves once...)
It's the only one I haven't seen. Should I remedy that? Let's bring the thread back to order by convincing me to either watch or skip Night Moves.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Kelly Reichardt

#22 Post by therewillbeblus » Tue Aug 04, 2020 4:05 pm

Yes Bard, but I don’t get how perceived institutional snobbery takes away from the merits of what they have to offer their students. Also I literally just wrote my thoughts championing Night Moves on the previous page to do just that (bring the thread back to order)!

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TheKieslowskiHaze
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Re: Kelly Reichardt

#23 Post by TheKieslowskiHaze » Tue Aug 04, 2020 4:07 pm

therewillbeblus wrote:
Tue Aug 04, 2020 4:05 pm
Yes Bard, but I don’t get how perceived institutional snobbery takes away from the merits of what they have to offer their students. Also I literally just wrote my thoughts championing Night Moves on the previous page to do just that (bring the thread back to order)!
Don't misunderstand. I AM a film- and lit-snob, and I take pride in the fact that Reichardt teaches there.

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senseabove
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Re: Kelly Reichardt

#24 Post by senseabove » Tue Aug 04, 2020 4:18 pm

therewillbeblus wrote:
Tue Aug 04, 2020 3:19 pm
So your argument is rooted in how you’d personally want the thread to go, and you chose to reach that goal by reducing the worth of his last film to two words? That’s only going to bring forth more defenses, especially when you’re aware of a “gravitational pull.” I’m a fan of his work, but only find this film to be a very specific case where I’m quick to defend because I believe it is far denser than others want to give it credit for. My counter argument is that the emotional value of it has been unfairly dismissed (or misread, hence what started today’s conversation) by people who have a chip on their shoulder against him for the reasons you state, or based on his other often unapologetically shallow works. Dismissing an artist or their work based on the trend of discussions others make in defense of their films is also an odd argument.
Not everything is "an argument," twbb, and me categorizing my post as one was entirely facetious. And again, the first line in that post was a joke, "macho bull" being a play on Reichardt's dismissive use of "macho" in the interview and a pun on the fact that her latest film is about a cow, which the gif was supposed to make even more heavy-handedly apparent, and even that was a joke about the discussion here, not a reduction "of the worth of his last film to two words."

So yes... I was making a joke, and commenting, not arguing, about how I'd wish the thread would go. And on that point, carrying on from the posts in the interim...
Anyways, I do think this thread is sadly lacking in conversation about Reichardt herself, which makes the ongoing debate accumulate into an unfortunately sizable percentage of the thread. In an effort to change that, I’ll say that Night Moves is one of my favorites of her works, mostly because it takes the thriller model and whittles it down to a real-time drama. The film’s rhythm mimics the slightly elevated heartbeat of someone breaking the law (outside of an exaggerated high-intensity robbery scenario), and that deconstruction of an eco-thriller into the pace of the thrills of actual ecological beings is fascinating. I think she does something similar but reversed in Wendy and Lucy, taking a more deceptively ‘lowkey drama’ story and building it as a realistic ascending anxiety attack to become a thriller.
I really do need to rewatch NM given how all my appreciation for all of her other films has grown on subsequent viewings, but it was the only one I felt averse to after finishing, whereas I was at least vaguely positive yet underwhelmed in the other instances. It seems folks are starting to come around to it, though, as I've started to see more people come out in defense of it in the past year so. I meant to rewatch it in the run up to First Cow's release, since the weekend that everything shut down I was supposed to see a mini-fest of all of her features save that one, including First Cow, with her at an in-person Q&A twice. (Jon Raymond was still able to show up for the post-Old Joy Q&A the weekend before, and he was a surprisingly good interviewee.)

I'll try to get around to watching it and see if I can muster the time and energy to write something about it.
Also, Reichardt taught film at my sister’s college and she never took one of her classes, which still pains me to this day ten years later, selfishly because I want to know how she teaches film in a live setting.
Her reviews on ratemyprofessor.com came up on Twitter recently, and some of them belong in the "rediculous reviews" thread:
Terrible sense of humor. Overarchingly misandric. Stupidly affected. Does not care about you personally, just her own strict, unflinching ethos. Did not instill me with a love for film. Her dog's nice though.



And yeah, TKH, if you like the rest of her movies, it's definitely worth seeing at least once, at the very least because it's a weird blend of a Reichardt movie and a mainstream heist thriller, as twbb points out.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Kelly Reichardt

#25 Post by therewillbeblus » Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:08 pm

senseabove, I understand you were joking and this seems to be a case of misunderstanding tones and definitions because I wasn’t trying to suggest an argument that didn’t exist but responding to your exact words, where you explicitly referred to your statement as an argument. I’m sorry if that carried a connotation that triggered you, but maybe read back your own language before berating me for repeating it using your own choice of words, without the ability to read your mind. Here, on my end, “argument” simply meant “comment beyond two words.” Sometimes I interpret your posts coming across as condescending to the opinions of others and it’s hard to pick apart what’s a joke and what’s a smear. Obviously that historical experience is going to affect how I read the response, as well as the nature of how translatable some ‘jokes’ are in type, so I apologize for asking for ‘more’ from you in a way that perhaps seemed aggressive when I genuinely didn’t get where you were coming from or what you were trying to say. Using italics to further condescend to someone for not “getting” your brand of humor as opposed to a clearly put forth argument (sorry, “comment”) is strange though and kinda reinforces my defensiveness when trying to interpret your tones, and my expectation for more transparency in jabbed retorts. I can’t promise that I’ll understand your jokes as such and not as invalidating comments every time going forth but I’ll try to view them that way first, and I take responsibility for assuming it was the latter. I really wasn’t trying to be insensitive, and honestly didn’t comprehend your attitude or reasoning until you took the time to explain in a straightforward manner.

As far as multiple viewings are concerned, unfortunately I found that Old Joy, previously my favorite film of hers, didn’t hold up as well on a recent revisit. Wendy and Lucy and Certain Women, both of which I loved upon a first viewing, reveal more complexities (especially in that Michelle Williams storyline in the latter) over time, and I think where many of us can agree is that it’s unfair to dub Reichardt’s films as “simplistic” based on their bared down style and omission of bombastic narrative maneuvering in the traditional sense.

That ratemyprofessor review is gold, and makes me wonder what her sense of humor actually is in a classroom setting!

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