Showing Up (Kelly Reichardt, April 7, 2023) Movie

2023 is so stacked with great directors. It has been rough for years.

 

looks great

 

yep

 

haven't seen Night Moves but it's cool seeing Reichardt make something not set in rural/nature areas

 

This was a nice, pleasant, quiet time.


It's flaw for me is it's very "write what you know" and I don't care for art school lmao

 

This used to be the time of year a small film could get a bigger release because there were less blockbusters but this isn't playing in Florida or the three closest states. Hopefully an expansion soon.

 

Well shit. Georgia is one of those states.

What're the chances this is playing in California still in two months

 

I'm sure it'll be on VOD within 2 months

 

this is pretty much wonderful

 

It’d be cool if this movie were showing up anywhere I could see it!

 

A24 is afraid of competing with themselves

This was lovely and it was fun seeing Michelle play a Portlandia character

 

on VOD now

 

Yay I win


People should watch this (and all Kelly Reichardt movies), I've grown to love this one so much

 

She's only had one misstep so far.

 

Which is

 

Night Moves. Very tonally off.

 

Night Moves and River of Grass (her debut, pretty sure it's still on Mubi) are the two I haven't seen but I admittedly need to give First Cow another look.

 

This is minor Reichardt but it is so nice to just watch her characters interact. There is always such a quietness and insular nature to the way they respond to each other and their feelings. The way Williams sits dejectedly, eating a bag of chips one chip by one chip in the darkness, that speaks to her overall feelings of repetition and lack of purpose.

 

Can you eleborate on this? I kinda feel the same but am having trouble expressing what i mean. It does feels off, like the murder is undercutting the theme and tone the movie takes towards direct action, but it makes sence for the characters and the narrative.

 

I haven't seen it since it came out but Reichardt's best work comes from character study rather than heavy plot development. The ecoterrorism angle was making explicit what was always more subtly explored in her work. There is more anger at the system and the failures in capitalism as you watch Wendy and Lucy than a more formally plot heavy film.

 

Yes that could be it. Her characters and interactions always feel extremely true to life, I was blown away by how realistic and natural the vibes, characters and their interaction of environmentalists felt in Night Moves, It then could felt off that they went through a movie plot with a 3 act structure that ends in murder.

I think in contrast to How to Blow up a Pipeline, Night Moves has much more floored and complex characters and because it spends time with them in aftermath letting them develop the film ends up highlighting the negative aspects of direct action and indirectly discredits it by effectively attacking the character of its partisipants. It works much better as a story but ends up with a weird feeling of mixed messaging.

 

Wish I liked this more. Just not for my sensibilities

 

this is streaming on kanopy and hoopla, for whoever has a certain library card

 

The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt, 2025) • forum.chorus.fm