American filmmaker Kelly Reichardt has been active in independent filmmaking since 1994 and centralizes her films on socioeconomically unstable protagonists. Her filmography includes a total of six feature films, the majority of which she is also the editor and screenwriter. In River of Grass, Cozy abandons her father and three children after believing that she and her partner Lee killed a man. In Old Joy, Mark and Kurt are estranged friends belonging to the working class, and in Wendy and Lucy, Wendy attempts to drive from Indiana to Alaska for new opportunities. Throughout these three films, Reichardt’s idiosyncratic filmmaking proves that she is an auteur by exploring the boundaries of the American Dream.
An identifying feature in a Reichardt narrative includes a meticulous character study, often focused on a short period of time. In Wendy and Lucy, the inciting incident occurs when Wendy arrives in a rural town in Oregon and sleeps in a Walgreen’s parking lot. When she wakes up in the morning, a security guard forces her to move her car, but she discovers that the engine will not start. From thereon, Wendy faces several financial struggles that eat into her insufficient budget of $525.00.
The cinematography’s tight focus on Wendy in this shot reflects the relationship between Reichardt’s cinematography and narrative. The medium close up shows Wendy attempting to turn on her engine. Framed above her, the security guard watches her. Although the shot is eye-level to Wendy, it comparatively shows the security guard from a low angle shot, emphasizing his authority over Wendy. Through this example, we see Reichardt’s cinematography and narrative working in tandem to intensify the plights of her protagonists. Much of the cinematography in a Reichardt film is dedicated to closeups in order to build an intimate relationship with her audience.
Reichardt’s protagonists have a limited sense of direction and are often filled with uncertainty for the future. In River of Grass, Cozy’s ennui with life is reflected symbolically when she is stopped by a policeman. This wide shot shows us two ramps intersecting in opposite directions; Reichardt manipulates the symbol of the open road to emotionally resonate with Cozy and the audience. The shot also shows us that Cozy faces a mental crossroads; she has the choice to live her married life or leave it all behind for the unknown. American culture believes in the ability to reinvent oneself, and Reichardt presents this ability to change as a pivotal life decision.
Reichardt considers herself to be a classical filmmaker. In an interview with Jose Solís, she comments that her filmography is incomparable to documentaries: “I don’t shoot like a documentary filmmaker. I’m a very traditional formalist. The idea of letting the camera just follow the action is not really what I do” (“Reichardt on Nature, Politics”). Reichardt films her actors from a fly-on-the-wall perspective. Her films consist of simple pans, closeups, and static shots. Watch, for example, this clip from Old Joy.
Reichardt’s editing is unobtrusive and preserves continuity. Despite her films’ focus on everyday American people, their lives are presented in a candid and pensive perspective. To further this point, Reichardt always shoots on location to preserve realism. When the camera strays away from her protagonists, Reichardt dedicates her shots to the American landscape. In Old Joy, much of the film is dedicated to capturing the beauty of the Oregon Cascade Mountains through Mark and Curt’s road trip. Reichardt’s ability to edit her own films allow these long sequences to be permissible.
Lastly, the need for compassion toward one another is a recurring theme within Reichardt’s films. In an interview, she rhetorically asks herself and the audience, “What is our responsibility to each other as strangers?” Wendy’s struggles become increasingly dire in Wendy and Lucy after she loses her dog and cannot leave town.
In this scene, the same security guard from the beginning of the film lets Wendy borrow his cell phone to call the pound. Wendy has been arrested for a petty theft and lost Lucy while she was in jail. Reichardt shows compassion in the security guard by allowing Wendy to use his phone: “No one uses a payphone anymore; come on” (“Security Guard”). Reichardt’s films contain small acts of kindness, but they are never presented sentimentally. The lack of sentimentality in her films, in turn, emphasize Reichardt’s need to present the lives of everyday Americans with little glamor and mediation.
Kelly Reichardt fits the definition of a modern-day auteur due to her distinctive plots and filming style. Because Reichardt works independently, she has always had full control over the editing and filming of her works. Reichardt focuses her films on less explored regional settings, such as rural Oregon in Old Joy and Wendy and Lucy and the Everglades in River of Grass, showing her compassion for Americans in socio-economically depressed areas. Although Reichardt reveals the American dream to be limited through its requirement of financial stability, she is never pessimistic. Her films contain understated hope and compassion through minor characters, and Reichardt implores us to reconsider how we treat strangers. Her films end without conventional climaxes, and we are left to wonder what will become of these characters, like the very strangers we meet in real life.
Final shot of River of Grass. Cozy leaves Florida alone, surrounded by cars filled with strangers.
Works Cited:
Jose Solís. “Kelly Reichardt on Nature, Politics, and What She’d Change About Documentary Filmmaking”:
Old Joy Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bf8GqDcx0M&frags=pl%2Cwn
River of Grass Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9QrvLd2pbY&frags=pl%2Cwn
Wendy and Lucy Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pASs3rerRCY&frags=pl%2Cwn
Introduction to Film Studies - Fall 2019 