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our main character, the undeniably cute, drawing, and irresistible Wendy, heads on some kind of early 20s sojourn from the dull mid west to explore the northwest and Alaska with only a month's savings, her 80s Honda accord, and her dog and best friend Lucy. Without any spoilers, her car breaks down in Portland, and the film is an emotional, patient, voyeuristic narrative of how this situation unfolds.
having introduced the film as loving it, what immediately struck me upon finishing it is how many people would be bound to hate it, either by missing the boat entirely on understanding, or by not having lived any similar experiences in their own lives to be able to understand the worthiness in this story being told.
In other words, I can instantly predict views upon the movie's main character of being negligent, lazy, naive, and viewing the film as a very drawn out boring portrait of situations unfolding as nothing more than a result of her lazy and negligent behaviors. For instance, "well what did she think would happen if you drive across the country with 500 dollars in an old car?" or "she deserves to lose her dog when tying it up outside of stores", or "if she just had a job and afforded a cell phone, she could have avoided a lot of these problems." You may very well have these points of view if you watch this film, and as i said, that is missing the boat on understanding or apparently not being able to relate to the true reality of the character.
i will tell you how i personally view the story. Wendy's story is the vehicle to make deep cutting commentary about the most pressing issues in American class-system society, done eloquently without even using words at times. The film paints a picture of a deeply partitioned society. That of those living in "the system," (almost all of us), those living outside the system (Wendy, the marginalized few...), and those who impose the system for their gain (such a small section of the population that they remain anonymous, unrepresented. the elite class). the workers who are working so hard to uphold the very system that is keeping them down and making them work so hard. those like Wendy live with none of the other things we have come to measure success and happiness with like money and a house and fancy things, but instead they spend their lives profoundly getting to know themselves and loving the ones they hold dear with all the time and attention they deserve. (loving Lucy the dog, in this case).
All the while we see colorfully illustrated examples of how this wage slavery system is really dehumanizing us all. its not human to wait in cars on freeways for hours, its human to be walking in the woods alone with your dog, connecting with her. its not human to stand 12 hour solitary work shifts simply being a security guard for a Walgreen's parking lot making minimum wage. its not human to just kick someone out of a parking lot simply to uphold the rules of not being a customer, it's human to stop and talk to the person, find out why they are their, and use your good judgment on how to handle the situation.
The film seemingly obviously wants to communicate if nothing else that the fact that every inch of our lives is dominated by money and how much we have should be cause for question, and that those who reject the wage-slave system don't outwardly have much, through this renunciation they have gained something that they deem much more important. being a human, knowing oneself, being close with other living beings in way's that aren't possible if 40 hours or more of your life is wasted for someone else's profit.
what unfolds in Wendy is an image of a young adult who rather than spend her time trying to fit into a position upholding the system that keeps us down, has decided to spend her time living for herself, better understanding of herself and nature. The scene when Wendy goes to the pound to check the cages for her lost Lucy, consists of a 1 minute long uninterrupted tracking shot, where in at an even rate the camera indiscriminatingly moves along past dozens of cage jails cells, past different dogs of all breeds and personalities. While I believe some might sit through this and be checking their watch and sighing, sensing it as just a sad boring shot, I think they just fail to make the 8th grade metaphorical connection that each of us in the wage slave system are just another one of the caged dogs. To me that piece becomes the hinging point of the entire film. yes, its a long shot because life is long and complicated; it takes a long time to come to face the hard truths of all these locked up dogs, of realizing we are locked dogs.
That would have been a lot for this movie to have going for it to catch my attention, but on top of that the whole movie is filmed in Portland, thus making this Oregon kid very nostalgic and instantly connected to the mood that the film environment creates.
add on top of this, Michelle Williams is absolutely perfect in her portrayal, and enduringly gorgeous to watch.
'getting' this movie or not is going to become a gauge for me for someones personality type in the future.
score 9/10
goddestroyer 2 August 2009
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2105529/ |
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29-11-2019 05:36:22