Film No. 94 SHOWING UP (2023) . 10th Dec.

 

Film No. 94 (2023)  December 10th.  8:00 PM SOMERVILLE Outdoor U.W.A.                       

"I'm enjoying my retirement. I do a little of this, a little of that and before I know it, it's time to watch TV again!" (Bill, Lizzy's dad feels no need to justify his quiet existence to his daughter. He's retired).

WINNER : Top Ten Independent Films (Kelly Reichardt); National Board of Review U.S.  2023. Nominee: Palme d'Or (Kelly Reichardt) Cannes FF.

One always knows when a film maker has cinema industry cred. They have actors lining up to appear in their films. Jessie Eisenburg, Dakota Fanning, Kristen Stewart and Laura Dern have all worked and loved their Kelly Reichardt experiences. The pay cut they take is never a concern. Michelle Williams appears here in SHOWING UP for her third feature with Reichardt. Reichardt takes such care with her characters it takes an actor of William's quality to capture the director's precise meaning. 

So what is it about SHOWING UP that is fracturing audiences? People not used to the Reichardt treatment of everyday events lived by characters who need to grow on an audience, in a meditative manner, is my guess. FIRST COW was promoted as a western. A western immediately conjures images of gunfights and conflict, not cowboys forming a friendship over a cow and oily cakes. Reichardt gave us a western to think about. She set a new standard for the genre.

SHOWING UP gives us Lizzy (Williams), an artist who escapes everyday decisions and responsibilities through her art; the creation of delicate clay figurines, maybe mirrors how she views herself; fragile, delicate, brittle. She is creating, at pace, for her exhibition. There is nothing glamorous about her creative pursuit, especially considering her anxieties. She also cares for a sick pigeon she has inherited and grown fond of. All the while she has no hot water. Her landlord and friend Jo (Hong Chau) is too busy to rectify this water situation. Jo discussing her predicament with Lizzy as she makes a tyre swing from the bough of a tree is classic Reichardt.   

So what? You might be thinking. So what indeed. It is Reichardt's treatment of life as it distils, as if through gauze, onto the screen that matters. Wenders, Jarmusch set a pattern for this type of observational cinema. You either love it or allow it time to grow on you.  10GUMS.