Michelle Williams and Lucy:
Beyond this, though, we're not shown anything by way of a backstory. Our view of events is limited to just a few days, and when Wendy visits the local pound in search of Lucy, a steady tracking shot of all the other lost dogs remind is of the millions more Wendys in small towns across America. Indeed, though it doesn't lean on a particular ideology, this is a fiercely political film in which the stakes of politics are the everyday lived experience: dollar bills exchanged between hands, a blank form waiting to be filled, or the aisle of a supermarket where shoppers do metal arithmetic to figure out what they can go without this week.
Wendy and Lucy lays bare the reality that poverty is a condition of circumstance rather than character, and that empathy, backed by a degree of outrage, is the only appropriate response.
—Joe Blackledge (read the entire essay here)
What will happen to her? The strength of this short, simple, perfect story of a young woman and her dog is that this does not seem, by the end, to be an idle or trivial question. What happens to Wendy—and to Lucy—matters a lot, which is to say that "Wendy and Lucy," for all its modesty, matters a lot too.
—A.O. Scott (read the review here)
Williams’s reading of the Wendy character, together with Reichardt’s appropriation of the muted tropes of melodramatic film discourse, combine to produce a rather unique sensation while watching Wendy and Lucy. I would wager that most viewers not only identify with Wendy but also feel unusually susceptible to registering her own vulnerabilities on our own spectatorial psyches, even down to our bodies. From the scene in the supermarket manager’s office, where we fidget along with Wendy, to the highly theatrical night sequence in the woods with the unnamed homeless man (Larry Fessenden), Wendy and Lucy activates Wendy’s body as one under threat, and whose threat we in turn feel by proxy. However, unlike many other sites of spectatorial identification, such as horror cinema or pornography, Reichardt’s film articulates these moments within a realist/materialist melodrama whose leftist aims are explicit. Every inch of the way, Wendy and Lucy displays how a chain of events leads Wendy to what is eventually, in her eyes, the best choice out of not very many: to leave Lucy behind in Oregon with the foster family that took her in. This moment, a classic tearjerker that has been compared, for good and ill, to everything from Umberto D. (1952) to Old Yeller (1957), seals the deal, in a sense, for Reichardt’s affective politics. Wendy, a young drifter with limited options, hit the skids one day and lost her dog. As we cry, Wendy and Lucy implicitly asks us to consider the unseen toll of poverty in America.
—Michael Sicinski (read the review here)
Kelly Reichardt making Wendy and Lucy:
I’m interested in making personal films and to me every film is political. There’s political in the personal. A lot of it has to do with Jon Raymond, my writing partner. I got turned on to him through Todd Haynes, who has produced these films. I read his novel and he has this way of writing where you’re reading about friendship and then it only occurs to you afterward that this is about everything. It’s about right now, this period of time, this moment. It has this ripple effect and it has a lot of room for you, as you’re reading, to bring your own life experience, your own point of view to it. So with Wendy and Lucy we start out with this idea that the film’s going to be about economics, about this time in America, but then that has to hopefully go away and it becomes about this girl Wendy, about these characters, and we never really focus on it again. I focus on it when I’m picking a place to shoot. Those decisions add texture to the themes, but certainly Michelle and I never had a conversation about the politics of whatever. It was all about Wendy and what would Wendy do, and hopefully all of that stuff gets pushed away. It either transcends or it doesn’t.
—Kelly Reichardt
The trailer for Wendy and Lucy:
"You can't get a job without a job."
—The Security Guard
The reaction by 5th period to Wendy and Lucy was pretty muted. As Zoya asked: "So...why?" And Isaac saw the realism—hyper realism really—as preventing him from relating to the film and Wendy. Everybody loved Lucy. Just admit it.
As I said in class, it was lauded highly—read the reviews above—and panned. I never demand you like a movie we watch. In fact, I think it's important that you not like everything we watch—and be able to explain why beyond "I don't usually watch this kind of movie" or "the costumes bored me." To think of what you like or dislike based upon what we see in the film itself, no matter what genre or whether it's foreign or domestic or black and white or color or recent or old. Wendy and Lucy, I think, is a deliberately difficult movie—because art does not have to be easy. Or should not always be easy. Carlin talked about how disconcerting Wendy's whistling was at the beginning of the film, and I have to agree; it may have been Carlin—or Lila or someone else—said it made the film seem like a horror film. And Kiran said from the floor, "It is." I think it's a beautiful movie; I know my mind drifts when I watch it. I wouldn't be surprised if Reichardt wanted that to happen.
1. What moment, scene, or image has stayed with you between seeing the film and writing this? And why is that?
2. I've been thinking about what Isaac said in 5th period block today—and talking later with Kiran about the movie got me thinking even more about what Isaac said in class. Isaac disagrees with Sicinski above, and many of you do too: you didn't relate to Wendy. If you don't "relate" to Wendy, why is that? If you do "relate" to Wendy, why is that?
Wendy presents us a character, as I said to Kiran, not all that different than Maggie in Million Dollar Baby—working class, not educated as much as certainly all of us in this class, not terribly sophisticated. But in the guise of Wendy, we realize how much Clint Eastwood smoothed the edges of his working class—or maybe really underclass—woman. Reichardt does not smooth the edges in that way: Wendy is not proud like Maggie, not spunky like Wadjda, not self-reflective nor artistic like Alike. She's a mystery. She's a little strange. That said, if you do not relate to Wendy, is that more about you than it is about the character of Wendy, or is that Wendy just is too...something different for you to make a connection with?
3. Reichardt and Jon Raymond worked closely together on the film: more so than Million Dollar Baby, Wendy and Lucy follows its source story almost verbatim. Pick a moment in the story that you felt the film presented well. Quote from the story and write about how the film captures it well. Everyone has to do a different moment: no repeating!
That's enough for this post. 250-300 words.
Finally: Wendy and the older Security Guard (Walter Dalton). They manage to create a relationship; and keeping with the film, what seems to start as a classic adversarial situation becomes something else. There is no bad guy in the film. Creepy and scary, yes, but not bad. Who or what the antagonist is we'll discuss.
1. There was one shot from behind and above Wendy of her in the forest looking out at the train, and the trees and sunlight make these beautiful shadow patterns on the ground (it's actually the thumbnail of the trailer). That stuck out to me because it is one of the only times this film uses lighting in a noticeable way, whereas the rest of the film was so simple and subdued in its cinematography. There are some scenes of her walking outside and it's just gray, there's no direction to the light, no highlight on her face, no contrast. This goes contrary to how every other film would have you believe a film should be shot. This film is uniquely uncinematic, and yes it's purposeful, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. I guess there have to be some films like this that are "bland" to the eye, I'm not saying the film is bad because of it, I'm just saying that this artistic choice made sense for the story, but doesn't mean I'm going to love watching it.
ReplyDelete2. Wendy is a blank canvas for us to project our emotions on. I believe this was intentional, but as I've said earlier, that doesn't mean I have to enjoy watching it or immediatly latch on to her character because I see myself in her. I related most to Wendy when she was in the bathroom brushing her teeth and getting clean for the day, because I could see witness this character do something normal that I do on a regular basis. In that way I did relate to her. But I never felt this overwhelming sense of emotional attachment to her. And I'm not quite sure why that is. Maybe she's not relatable. Maybe I just don't have a soul. Maybe it's both. Who knows?
3. I think the shop lifting scene was particularly well done in the film. The book describes an unseeable detail, "the trick to shoplifting, she had found long ago, was in forgetting that one was doing it at all," and the film, or rather Michelle Williams, captured this aesthetic of casualness perfectly. The way she mutely moves from produce to produce and calmly takes the dog food and puts it in her jacket brought alive the pages of the story. If watching a hollywood movie one could imagine a dramatic scene with a dramatic heart beat playing over it and close ups of sweat dripping down the character's skin, but alas, this is not a hollywood film.
1. A moment that really stuck with me throughout the entire film was the shot of Wendy staring at Lucy as she was taken away from the grocery store by the police. I can completely imagine what she is feeling in that moment. Watching that scene, I felt stressed and trapped, much like what Wendy was feeling. The image of Lucy being left tied in front of the store is such a vivid image in my mind, and as a fellow lover and owner of a dog I can completely understand how it feels to lose your dog. Although the film is not completely about looking for her dog, that feeling of losing your pet is unlike any other, because they are an animal. The dog can't talk to anyone, call you or find it's way home because it is an animal, but you happen to love that animal so it is all up to you to find them. I could feel the pressure that Wendy was feeling through the screen.
ReplyDelete2. I think I can relate to Wendy as someone who has a dog, but not as a homeless woman or vagrant. I have never experienced homelessness and never having enough money due to the hand I was dealt when I was born. I go to private school, so I am privileged enough that I never have to worry about money. This film reminded me of that as well. I cannot relate to that part of Wendy's struggle. However, I can relate to her struggle to find Lucy. I can imagine the images going through Wendy's head of Lucy starving in the streets, being abused, or being lonely and cold. I most definitely can relate to her never ending need to find Lucy no matter what happened.
3. I believe the ending of the film was done particularly well. In the story, what was going through Wendy's head was written out for the reader to see. In the story we could read Wendy thinking "A dog could love anyone, she thought. A dog could be happy almost anywhere. They just needed food and water and affection. They were not picky about who delivered it". In the film however, the viewer does not have access to what was going through Wendy's head, but regardless of that I could already tell what she was thinking just through her face. The film also had Wendy saying "it's so nice here. That man seemed so nice". The director and actor did a wonderful job of showing how Wendy felt through her face and what she said. I could tell what she was going to do before she was going to do it.
I believe the most noteworthy scene was the one between Wendy and the security guard (who remains unnamed). As the security comes with good news about Lucy, Wendy will soon try to leave with her dog. The security then gives Wendy six dollars; though this may not seem significant, we see the job he has. Nearly whenever Wendy is around the store, the security guard can be seen standing stationary at his post. He does a twelve hour shift, and must not be paid much. The money he gave Wendy was sincere, and he really wishes she will do well in the future. When Wendy promises to visit if she comes back, this also leaves an open relationship as opposed to closure.
ReplyDeleteI can’t relate to Wendy in most ways except for her strong connection with Lucy. I believe Lucy was in fact critical to the audience empathizing with Wendy. Without their personal bond, many people simply can’t relate to Wendy’s struggles, and the people who do would not be in the audience.
I like the last scene with Wendy and Lucy. The fence in both the story and the movie was served as a barrier between their reunion. This boundary allowed Wendy/ Verna to make a selfless decision. “ The game was done, but for some reason Verna found herself rooted in place. Her fingers refused to let go of the metal wire.” I think the inclusion of this description into the story was very important to the ending scene. The fence between them prevented their reunion , and foreshadowed how Wendy can’t take care of her dog. How sad!
The opening scene has stuck with me. Wendy is scene walking through a park with Lucy and playing catch with a stick the camera pans behind a row of trees, so the view of Wendy is blocked occasionally. Humming is playing in the background. The scene seems so peaceful to me it is hard to expect the story that unfolds if we hadn't read the story. I think the reason it stuck with me was the layering of elements between the simplicity of the actions, the camera angles, and the sound. The humming does add an element of suspense though. Like Carlin said about how it feels like the beginning of a horror movie, the humming does make me a bit uncomfortable. The fact it doesn't exactly have a tune and is more random notes give it less of a sense of security. Also, the angle of the camera makes the audience feel like they are watching Wendy from the outside rather than connecting and experiencing the same thing.
ReplyDeleteI could not relate to Wendy. I felt like the movie did not give enough information about who she was or how she felt. There was very little dialogue for her other than searching and calling for Lucy. You could see her struggle through her face, but we never really found out anything about her. I think there needs to be some sort of background story or a little more information about who a person is in able to relate to them, especially someone who is going through such an extreme situation. I am lucky enough to never experienced anything even close to what Wendy is going through, therefore it's a bit hard for me to connect and relate. I have also never had a pet so although I can feel her pain throughout the movie especially about her loss of Lucy, i don't have anything personally that has paralleled their relationship.
I think the scene that the movie presented the bonfire scene in the beginning well. You could sense the hesitation of Wendy when she saw the group as she approaches slowly in the darkness, the group a “proudly dirty bunch, their fingernails blackened, their hair clotted with knots, some with studs in their cheeks and even facial tattoos.” In the story, the group is described very clearly, and the movie mirrors it exactly. It was also strange because they seemed the most welcoming and open to some extent. The girl who was petting Lucy was curious about “Wendy” and the guy who worked on Alaska was acting like he had known “Wendy” for a long time and they were already friends. When reading the story, you could feel the recklessness and wildness of the group based on the descriptions of what they looked like, the stories they told, and their actions. The movie takes these into account and provides a real exhibition of them as written in the story.
One scene that stuck with me until now was where Wendy was walking through the pound trying to find Lucy. I think that it was just a cool shot down the hall because you got to see a bunch of different types and sizes of dogs, but there was always the anticipation of seeing Lucy. I think it also stuck with me because Wendy didn't really show facial expressions or emotion in this scene and I found that interesting because even some people in our class said “aw” when they saw the dogs in their cages.
ReplyDeleteI think Wendy is a very sophisticated character who is hard to define as one thing or another. I think one thing that I thought about and judged Wendy on was her decision making, and now that I think of it, I don't know if I was right or wrong to do that. She made the decision to shoplift dog food from the store which is obviously wrong, but I think from someone who has never experienced the struggle that Wendy has, I can't say truthfully whether or not I would have done the same thing. I guess this means that I can't relate to Wendy on a personal level but I do relate to Wendy on her means by which to find Lucy after she loses her. I have a dog and I don't think if he got lost that I could keep my mind of if he was safe or not so I definitely feel sympathy for her in that case.
I think one moment in the story that I think is also portrayed well in the film is where Wendy is sleeping in her broken down car and a couple of teenage boys pass her talking about girls and stuff. One boy stops and says “there's a lady in there!,” and I think that this is one point where we really see Wendy struggle with being called homeless. We also see this where the woman in the pound asks if Wendy has an address and she says no uncomfortably. We never hear the word homeless in the film even though it is a huge aspect of the story, so I think this scene in the story exemplifies even more the struggle for Wendy of not only being homeless but also being called homeless and laughed at because of it.
One scene that stayed with me is when Wendy and the security guard see each other for the last time. It was a really beautiful scene, and one of the few glimpses of hope in an otherwise dark film. I think he gave her 6 dollars, but for him that really was significant, and I feel like it must have made Wendy feel good that someone cared about her. To be completely alone in the world is to me one of the scariest things, and that is why Lucy is so important to Wendy. Lucy is the last thing that Wendy has in the world. Her Sister does not care about her, no one else shows her any compassion, including the security guard at first. That is why it was such a powerful scene when he gave her the money.
ReplyDeleteI would not say I relate to Lucy. We have very very little in common. We have nothing in common besides the fact that we are human, but that actually means we have a lot in common. We both crave love and connection and relationships with other people. I do not relate to Lucy but I empathize with her. I imagine what I would do in that situation and it is an extremely scary thought.
One scene that is portrayed well in both the film and the story is when Lucy is cursing and speaking to the security guard about the pound and when the garage will open. I think this is the first time the guard starts to feel compassion for Wendy. “‘You know where the pound is?’...’Not too far,’ he said, strolling closer, genuine concern creasing his brow. ‘You all right honey.’ He is the first person who really cares about what she is going through, and this is when the most important relationship in the film begins to develop.
The very last scene with Wendy sitting on the train and staring out at the trees has stayed with me since the viewing. She has just given up her pride and joy, Lucy, so she’s all alone. Never had she looked so alone the entire film until that point, and her life looked much more bleak. The trees were passing so quickly, and it made me think that her life is just as quickly passing by. While watching the film, Wendy’s life appears incredibly slow-paced, but every day, time passes and she is in the same position: homeless, jobless, and alone. This scene starkly states the theme of poverty in the film, leading to an ultimately sad ending.
ReplyDeleteI could relate to Wendy in terms of her emotions, not her storyline (in terms of plot and events.) I could feel her fear when the man was rummaging through her bag in the middle of the night. I could feel her pain of leaving the thing she loves most in the world, Lucy, behind as she was escorted to the police station. And I could feel her lonesomeness when she jumped on the train at the end of the film. I do not think we are expected to relate to being homeless or even to having a dog because of the nature of our own past experiences, but I do think we are expected to empathize with Wendy, which in itself gives more insight into her situation.
I think Andy’s characterization is REALLY well done. Exact lines from the story, especially when Andy asks Wendy, “Do you have something to tell me?” makes the scene really vivid in my mind while reading the story and was immediately recognizable in the film. Andy was not just portrayed as a guy working at the store, but as the asshole Wendy makes him out to be.
One moment that stayed with me from the film was the scene in Which Wendy breaks down in the gas station bathroom. I thought this scene was powerful because it is the first time we really see Wendy express an intense emotion in the whole film. The desperation and hopelessness of her situation is clearly apparent as it seems she has nothing left after Lucy and her car are gone. This moment also shows how she doesn’t have anyone to express her desperation to as it is obvious her family is very disconnected the closest thing she had to a friend was Lucy. She does make the slight connection to the security guard but this intense moment exemplifies how alone she is.
ReplyDeleteI can’t relate to Wendy on any obvious factors as I am not in anyway close to her situation and don’t even have a dog. I think I admired Lucy more than connected with her. Her independence and drive through her situation are things I don't think I would have if I was in her shoes. Of course, she gains these through necessity as she does not really have any other option, but I think she has a quiet strength that can be overlooked. I didn’t exactly have an issue because I couldn’t relate to her character but more the lack of her character in itself is what held me back from fully engaging.
One moment from the reading that I think was expressed well in the movie was the scene where Wendy fills out the paperwork at the pound and the woman behind the desk comments on the lack of address and phone number. When Wendy says she’s just passing through the woman the woman responds in a way that is perfectly captured in the story. “The woman hummed, expressing something between irritation and sympathy.” I think this reaction was mirrored well into the movie and I think it is a reaction that Wendy gets a lot throughout the film.
The moment that really stayed with me was the scene where she was at the mechanic and he was telling her everything that was wrong with her car. I liked this scene for several reasons. The first is that the mechanic is a very matter-of0fact character. He tells it like it is. As we see this depressing story unfold, it only gets more depressing when we realize she has permanently lost her car. I wanted to be mad at the mechanic, I even wanted him to do the job for free or a heavily discounted price. But that didn't happen. It was also the first time Wendy doubted that something bad could have happened to her. She seemed to accept that her life was full of suffering, but she was still hopeful or skeptical that her car was not actually broken. It turns out, it was. I think that moment was a microcosm for the whole movie: Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it can and it will.
ReplyDeleteI somewhat relate to Wendy. I understand the feeling of trudging through life from moment to moment not really knowing what to do or why to do something. I would say I am a bit more confident and hopeful about my future than Wendy though, but I would attribute all of that to my surroundings and pre-existing conditions that made my life that way. I think Wendy is an observer, but she just so happens to be observing her own life rather than being in control of it.
I think the way the story described the way the days and nights rolled by while Verna was looking for Lucy was something the movie did an excellent job at. In the story, it says, “The night passed excruciatingly slowly. Plains of aggravating silence were interrupted by bursts of unexpected noise, Sirens wailing. The ripping sound of rubber on asphalt. The streetlamp filled the car with piss-colored light, casting oblong blocks over the seats and dashboard...Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the sky began gaining some color. The dome of blackness warmed to a dull gray and the sound of birds returned.” I just feel like this captured the mood of the film very well and matched up with the type of long, tedious scenes that made up the movie.
One moment that stayed with me until now was when Wendy was sleeping in the woods and the man came up and tried to steal her things and talk to her. This scene was interesting to me because even though Wendy has had random people talk about her or to her in the past, she has always had the safety of being in her car as well as the protection of Lucy. This was the first time she truly had nothing and she experienced unsettling things about the darkness of night.
ReplyDeleteI do not think I relate to Wendy. Part of it is because I have never experienced the hardship of being alone in a strange down with no money, no house, and the loss of the only thing I cared about. The other part is that I don't really know her character well enough to relate. Her personality was never very accentuated, so i do not see any similarities there. She doesn't seem like the type of person who makes it easy to get to know her. She does seems to have a hard life, and I admire the braveness she has when leaving Lucy behind because she knows she can't provide for her anymore.
The moment from the story that i think was reflected well was when the security guard knock on Wendy's door in the morning to tell her to leave. The whole argument between Wendy and the security man happened exactly like I pictured it in the story. When Wendy's car wouldn't start and he continued to say, "You just have to get it off the lot," I could feel the annoyance coming from Wendy as the man tried to do his job no matter the consequences. I also liked how this scene was the start to their relationship and how without this security man, Wendy may have never gotten back in contact with the pound to find Lucy.
1. A scene that really struck me today was the very last shot. There, Wendy is watching the trees and ground as she lays in an empty train car. We talked about this earlier in class, but I still found it to be one of the most interesting scenes. It seemed to resemble Wendy’s transitioning from her old way of life. What made it nerve-racking, however, is that we never have any close shots of Wendy’s reaction. She does not know her next location, and the audience does not get to see her reaction to this fact. This decision was masterful, because it forced me to genuinely care about what happens next to Wendy.
ReplyDelete2. Personally, I think that I can relate to Wendy. While I may not be experiencing her living situation, I feel that everyone can sympathize with one thing: the feeling of hopelessness. Everyone, including me, has something that worries them. The only difference is that it can be different for each person. In Wendy’s case, her worries are more severe; she has to grapple with economic instability, the loss of her dog, and not having decent shelter. I see the ability to identify with Wendy’s struggle (regardless of what kind of life you live) as a profound example of how alike we all really are.
3. One of the scenes that I think was done particularly well was the robbery scene in the woods. Granted, it was hard to see against the nighttime setting, and the distant train noises made it hard to hear; however, i think that these distractions are what made the scene stand out. In the story, Verna (whose name is Wendy in the film) can recall feeling trapped to a point where “her cells turned into helium and the sound of her own blood churned in her ears” (244). I felt a chilling tension while watching this scene, and I can only imagine that Wendy felt the same way, if not worse. What added to the suspense of this scene was that the audience could not clearly see or hear the man that approached her; therefore, Wendy is left to fathom that “at any moment, around any bend, she could be claimed” (247). Overall, I was confused. worried, and scared alongside our protagonist, and I commend the cinematography for making me sympathize with her.
The scene where Wendy was searching for Lucy inside the pound stuck with me after we finished watching the movie. The desperation in Wendy’s eyes and her movements was really striking. It was clear that Lucy meant everything to her. Her dog was all she had. I found the scene profoundly sad not just because Wendy and Lucy were not reunited but also because of all of the other dogs cramped up in enclosed spaces waiting for owners who may never return.
ReplyDeleteI don’t really relate to Wendy because I can’t imagine leaving my home and traveling across the country with only five hundred dollars. It is unfathomable to me that anyone could travel that far with only their car and their dog. I also can’t relate to Wendy’s isolation. I have always made an effort to surround myself with people that I can relate to and enjoy spending time with. I can’t imagine going that long with only a dog for company.
A scene from the movie that I thought was particularly close to the story was when the mechanic decided to tow Wendy’s car for only thirty dollars. In both the story and the movie the mechanic and the audience could see that Wendy was desperate at this point; her life was little more than a long string of unfortunate events since the story started. It was clear that the mechanic had sympathy for Wendy’s situation and even though he didn’t fix her car for free, something that I would expect from a large budget Hollywood film, he did agree to tow her car at a discounted rate.
1, The scene that has stuck with me most since the viewing of Wendy and Lucy had to be the ending scene in which she chooses to leave Lucy behind. It really was a gut wrenching scene for me, not because I was really feeling sorry for her or the dog, but because all of the build the entire movie strove to create was simply broken in a second. Nothing important occurs in the film after she makes the decision to leave and as a viewer I was left wanting something more than a two minute fleeting encounter with the dog she has spent the entire moving searching for.
ReplyDelete2, I could not find myself heavily reacting to the character traits Wendy displayed, because I believe we can all understand that working class or not, Wendy is a bit odd. However, I could find myself relating to the way she dealt with certain situations and the feelings the actress was able to emote when she was faced with hardship. I felt my own heart drop when the employee grabbed her arm, and felt my own palms get sweaty as I was unsure what would befall her when the homeless man approached her in the woods. I think that the actress did a good job presenting a relatable character, but I felt that it was done almost at the expense of depth. As the negative review argued, I agree a bit that Wendy did not feel like she had many interesting or defining characteristics, or things that made her stand out from this extremely bleak setting. I understand that this may have been intentional, but I still wish I could have seen more of what is behind her odd persona.
3, I think that the scene that was best translated from the story to the movie had to be where Verna/ Lucy is confronting Andy about ratting her out to the store manager for shoplifting when she is searching for her dog. I think the anger she is feeling when she responds to his question of what she is doing with “‘Looking for my dog,” she said. ‘She’s gone. I hope you’re real happy.’” was executed particularly well.
1. The moment that stuck with me the most was easily the ending. For the entirety of the story and the movie, I was eagerly awaiting a positive turn in Verna’s story. Finally, when it seems something will go right at last, she decides to leave Lucy behind in hopes of giving her a better life. A line that struck me was “A dog could love anyone … They just needed for and water and affection, they were not picky about who delivered it” (258). This line made me think about my relationship with my own dogs and I began to question if I was really giving them the best lives they could live.
ReplyDelete2. While I didn’t find Verna’s particular situation relatable, I found her, as a character, incredibly familiar. Her strong love for her dog and the desperate nature of her storyline were both relatable to me. I know that I would move Heaven and Earth to find and protect my dog if she were to ever disappear, and I know I’ve been in many (pardon my French) bullshit situations like the one Verna found herself in at the grocery store and in the mechanic’s shop. The entire time, I felt like I was reading the story a real person struggling with real issues; there was no glamorized fictional drama involved. While it may not have made for the best dramatic experience, particularly on screen, I found Wendy to be one of the most human and most relatable characters I’ve encountered in fiction.
3. A scene I felt translated well to the screen was the encounter with the mechanic. His complete lack of concern for Verna or her situation were depicted fantastically on screen by Will Patton. In Verna’s first introduction to the man, he is described as having “no spark of emotion in his face, no welcome” (236). She finds his intellect is “cause for concern” and is intimidated by the man who seemingly holds the key to Verna’s regaining of mobility. Will Patton is able to capture this intimidating character with an air of humor, but retaining the frustration I had with him as I read the story.
The scene that stuck with me most from this movie was fairly short, maybe a couple of seconds. Wendy was cleaning out her car to be taken to the repair shop and there was a full screen shot of Wendy picking up each individual coin from the creases in her seat cushions. This scene stuck with because of the striking similarity to the scene in Seven Samurai with Yohei picking each grain of rice off of the ground. Both these scenes represent the dire situations these characters are in, every cent, every grain of rice matters. I thought it was really cool to draw this parallel between movies we have seen in class. At this point in the movie, Wendy had nothing and these coins were everything to her.
ReplyDeleteBefore seeing this movie I didn't think it was critical to be able to relate to a character in order to enjoy a movie. I really did not like this movie, so maybe it is helpful to have a character that you can relate to. I don't think that many of the people that watch Wendy and Lucy will be able to relate to Wendy on a personal level. I agree with Caroline that we need more information about Wendy’s motives and where she's coming from to be able to relate to the character.
It was cool to watch a movie that so closely followed the story. I started the story before we watched the movie and finished it after we had seen the movie, so it all sort of blended together to me in one work. I really enjoyed seeing how Wendy’s relationship with the security guard developed. One moment that I thought was particularly well shown was when the guard goes to the Walgreens on his off day to bring Wendy the good news. Wendy gets a glimpse into his life outside the parking lot, “she could see he was not nearly as bad off as her.” This comes across as a kind of jealousy which was demonstrated well on Wendy’s face at her surprised, sort of scowling reaction to the guard’s car and wife.
Both of the scenes where Wendy/Verna talk to Alan have certainly stuck with me because of how during the film I was thinking about perspective. If you are looking at Wendy as the protagonist who is always right then you will see Alan as a jackass who unnecessarily roughed up a poor woman and made her lose her dog, but if you see Alan as the brave young grocery store worker who stopped a crazy homeless woman from robbing the store and sent her where she belongs. My descriptions of both scenarios are slightly exaggerated, but it is to get the point across that I think Wendy might have been the “bad” guy in this exchange because she honestly just seemed crazy when she returned to the store looking for Lucy and she starting yelling at Alan while he was getting picked up.
ReplyDeleteI can't really relate to Wendy because I don't really know enough about her. In the snippets I have seen of her present state I can somewhat understand her. She is constantly trying to make plans and be responsible but they are undermined at every turn. It just seems like she can't catch a break and life keeps knocking her down and stepping on her a little bit before she can get back up.
I thought the scenes where Wendy was brought into the police station so she could be processed was very true to the story and the movie I believe captured it well. The sense of impatience and constantly looking at the clock waiting to be set free reminded me of the scenes that were depicted in the reading and of school in general. It truly showed how restless Wendy was to get back to Lucy and how she was constantly derailed and it always seemed to find a way to extend her time.
Andy*
DeleteThe moment when she gets caught by the asset protection guy really got to me. I know that I would feel intense shame in this moment, but she is in clear sight of her golden god, shining in the sun, and, in this moment she loses it all. All of this made me really glad that I’ve never had to shoplift, because getting into legal trouble scares the shit out of me for some reason.
ReplyDeletePersonally, does it matter if we “relate” to her or not? On a personal level, maybe not. There are definitely people like her in real life that I have met, it’s just that they are easy to ignore, or forget about I guess. As I have stated before, the power of this movie is in that we can't relate, since we haven't been in such dire circumstances as she has. Sure, we all know what it’s like to have a string of really bad luck, that is a universal struggle, but we don’t end up lonely, broke, and homeless when things go awry. Personally, if i was that close to the edge, i'm not quite sure how I would act either--but I would know I would be different. Especially if I didn’t have a companion. On that note, I think that Lucy helps out a lot in this movie, as I react similarly to Wendy around my dog, even if my life and actions are totally different.
I thought the scene that the movie presented well was when Wendy is getting the last bit of dog food out for Lucy, and realizes that she has to get more: “Lucy’s bag of food was down to the bottom-most wrinkles.” This scene really got to me, not only because I hate the smell of dog food, but in the movie you could really see how hollow the bag is and the predicament they are in.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete1)The moment that really stuck with me was the end of the movie when she was sitting on the train. It is a true depiction of a girl who just lost the most important thing in her life, but had to do it so Lucy could have a better life with an owner that could care for her. Wendy’s situation becomes very real in this moment because we can see that she doesn’t have anything left: her dog is with a new family, her car is in a junkyard, and all that she really has left is what she has carried with her throughout the movie. It is a very thought provoking shot
ReplyDelete2) I do not personally relate to Wendy. I think that it is difficult for me to relate to her because of the situation I’m in. I don’t have to worry about finding money or where my next meal is coming from. Wendy’s also doesn’t really show much emotion relating to anything but her car and her dog, the two things that were getting her to Alaska, and I have never been in a situation where there is so much going on that I can only let myself care about the things that are moving me forward. I also find it difficult to relate to Wendy because I do not know much about her. The movie was just one snapshot of her life: not much backstory, future, or hope. Her character is to closed of for me to relate to.
3)I think the moment where Wendy is being interrogated in the manager’s office after being caught shoplifting was adapted very well from the story. How Verna notes that Mr. Hunt has “little affection” (221) towards Andy is important, it helps show how much she cares for Lucy and is willing to use this dislike to her advantage in order to get back to her. This scene also carefully captured how Verna feels more and more frantic as she realizes they are going to make her leave her dog at the store. The movie also did a good job with that with the slightly jumpy camera work to show how upset she was.
1. The moment that Wendy hopped into an open rail car and looked out to the trees was an extremely memorable and painful moment for me. I wanted her to stay and try to find a job somewhere or at least wait until the man who took Lucy in came back. Not to mention the uneasy and disorienting feeling the ending scene gave me with the shots of the landscape swiftly falling behind. It was a realistic decision and it was the right one, which made it more frustrating because it was not Wendy’s fault but simply an unfortunate turn of events that left her most likely heartbroken and still at the mercy of whatever happened at the end of that train ride.
ReplyDelete2. I didn’t necessarily relate to Wendy but because of her few words and calm demeanor I saw her more as a representation of anyone. She was a passive character that was the furthest thing from in control and that was what made me feel as if I was facing the same roadblocks and stress that came with them. The scene when she’s waiting in her cell after being arrested was awful to watch, especially because her face was blank and still. The entire scene, I was picturing Lucy outside the store absolutely starving and I couldn’t stand it (especially because my dog’s named Lulu and from the very first time that Wendy called her Lu I was emotionally invested).
3. The moment the film very effectively captured from the story was actually one of the first scenes. The one where she’s returned to the car for the night and is tracing the highlighted route on her paper map to Alaska and keeping track of the cash she has left in her very organized journal with “fisheries” written nicely at the top. Within a very short space of time, the audience is clued into her situation and goal, as well as her limited pool of supplies. This scene shows the audience some very key aspects of Wendy’s narrative presented in the story through saying, “For a moment, under the spilling stars, almost exactly halfway from Muncie, Indiana, to easy money in the Alaskan fisheries, she allowed herself a brief intuition of better times to come.” This relatively positive and seemingly straightforward and planned out goal made the unfortunate events that soon followed more disheartening.
The scene that stuck with me was when Wendy had to walk away from
ReplyDeleteLucy. Although I already read this moment in the story it was more sentimental seeing it. Reading it I didn’t feel much emotion but seeing the scene was heartbreaking. The cinnamontography used the camera and slowly zoomed out as Wendy walked away from Lucy created a more realistic feeling of her parting from Lucy. Also the humming playing in the background in all of the scenes after something went wrong or she had to walk away from something special.
In the story the reader gets more of a backstory but still not enough to the point where we won’t make assumptions. She had a plan and was determined to stick to it, but I think the occurrence of events makes her want to get a job more. I feel I don’t really relate to her but when she is faced with a problem she seems pretty smart and comes up with another option. I didn’t have a strong emotional connection with her but I did admire her ability to seem calm in all these situation even though she is freaking out inside.
A moment in the story that I felt the film preseneted well was the opening scene with Lucy and Wendy in the park playing. The setting and and descriptions were very detailed in the story and think the movie did a good job presenting that particular scene. The sense of calmness was a good way to begin the film to show the connection of her and Lucy.
I think there is one moment that stayed with me where Wendy puts up the missing dog flyer right below a flyer that has “$ REWARD $” written on it. Even though this was a small detail, it is just a constant reminder of how much money she doesn’t have. She’s constantly counting out what she has left, and looses Lucy trying to steal so they can save some money for gas. Even though this is little and probably very insignificant, it really stood out to me when we were watching the movie.
ReplyDelete2. I think Wendy has this uncomfortableness in the way that she interacts with people and Lucy. It’s hard to admit that I could be anything like that because watching her, she doesn’t get along with people well and that’s not something you want to see in yourself. I think Maggie, Alike, Wadjda are easier to relate to because you want to relate to them. They are appealing characters and people due to their spunk, courage, or will while Wendy doesn’t seem to bring any of these things to the table. Wendy is to “normal” for someone to want to relate to her. I feel like I relate to characters I want to see myself be, not characters I think truly resemble me.
3. I think the scene that was done best in the movie was Wendy writing the money she had left in her little book. I think one thing I didn’t like about the movie that i enjoyed more about the story was that in the story you can think through everything she thinks with her. This would obviously be a lot harder to do in the movie, but i think what we lack in her mental calculations are shown really well in her scratchpad of costs. It shows that she’s calculated and she has a plan.
The moment when Wendy is on the phone with her sister and brother in law has stuck with me most. We never really get to see Wendy have a conversation about anything but her travel logistics until this scene, which enables the audience to connect with her a little. Even in the beginning Wendy’s pain is obvious, but she never seems to express it until she is rejected from her sibling. Her background also becomes very apparent; I never realized how bad her situation was until this shot. Similarly, it’s a scene that really made me feel sorry for her. I am not sure if I necessarily like Wendy, but I definitely can empathize with her.
ReplyDeleteI don’t relate to Wendy’s story, as I have never been in a situation like hers. I find it difficult to like her character because she seems so monotonous, and during the film I found myself wishing that she would get really angry or cry or laugh. Connecting with Maggie from Million Dollar Baby was easier because, even though she is not a particularly emotional person, she has emotional moments. Like when she tells Frankie off for refusing to train her, or the several scenes in which Maggie and Frankie bicker playfully. However, I think we all can relate to the emotions she feels. Hopefully none of us have encountered it at the level at which Wendy does, but we all have bad days or even feel like the world is against us sometimes. Everyone experiences at least a taste of the emotions Wendy does which is why I am empathetic toward her. Keeping this thought in mind, my heart doesn’t quite ache for Wendy like it does for, say, Wadjda. It’s hard to explain in writing, but I feel more “yikes” toward Wendy than compassion- there’s something missing with her.
A scene from the movie that was very close to how I pictured it from the story was when Wendy first loses Lucy. Leading up to this scene, Reichardt did a nice job stretching out the time she spends in the police station and I felt the same anticipation while watching it that I did while reading. When she finally gets back to the store, she knows Lucy will be gone but can’t let go of the possibility of her being there. The desperation in Wendy’s voice is just how I heard it with Verna. Lastly, the director was able to make time seem to pass more quickly when Wendy is running around the town in search of her friend just like in the story.
I’d say the scene that stuck with me the most was the crazy man who approached Lucy while she was sleeping. I think this was when I really started to notice what Jordan brought up during discussion: how much the movie just keeps kicking Wendy when she’s already down. Her car is breaking, she’s running out of money, she’s lost her best friend, and is already having to sleep in the woods, the last thing she needs is a strange man waking her up and scaring her half to death. After all Wendy is already dealing with, she’s presented with one more small, quick event that turns out to be incredibly terrifying and traumatizing. Throughout this scene I had no idea what was going to happen. I don’t think the man ever actually touched Wendy, but his actions and obvious mental state had everyone thinking the worst for Wendy’s safety.
ReplyDeleteI found it difficult to connect with Wendy because I’ve never been in any situation similar to hers. I agree with yesterday’s comments about the lack of character development in Wendy and I think that has a heavy affect on her relatability to viewers. What I think people could relate to are the emotions she shows throughout the film. The fear of her scar situation, love she has for her dog, the connections she has with her few belongings, and the fear and sadness she experiences when she loses Lucy. It’s extremely likely that every person that’s ever seen this movie has experienced those emotions and in that way can connect with Wendy and her story.
I think a scene that was well translated to the movie was when Wendy walks around the town tieing articles of her clothing to random spots she and Lucy had been, hoping Lucy would return to one of them. In the story, the scene ends with the narration of Lucy, “scouting for a good place to spend the night”. I thought that was powerful because it brings together the two main problems surrounding Wendy at that moment: finding Lucy and staying safe while sleeping outside. I think that scene and Wendy’s emotions were very well translated in the movie.
I think for me, the scene that stuck with me the most was the scene where the homeless man came up to her in the woods and then she ran to the bathroom and cried. I personally feel like this one stuck out to me because it made me feel like I could relate to Wendy. I say this because it reminds us that she is human just like us. She has emotions and has fear and thoughts just like the rest of us. Throughout this movie it was very easy for me to disassociate myself from Wendy because I don't relate to her situation. So seeing her have this emotional breakdown on screen and away made me feel more connected to her. Like I mentioned before, I really don't relate to Wendy at all. I genuinely think it's because our lives are so different. Many of my friends and I are extremely fortunate and don't have to face the struggles that she is facing every day. I don't know what it's like to sleep in a car, or to have to shoplift for food, or take a bath in a gas station bathroom sink. These are just things that I can't imagine doing and I feel very fortunate for that, but because of this I have a very hard time relating to Wendy. A moment but I think the movie captured really well, was when Wendy/Verna was trying to get food out of the trunk of her car for Lucy and the dog food bag only had a few crumbs left. “The car was dead. And to top it off, Lucy's bag of food in the trunk was down to a few crumbs rattling in the bottom most wrinkles.” Pg 215.
ReplyDelete1. The moment that stuck with me was when she was running away from the man who tried to rob her, and how she broke down in the bathroom. During her walk/run to the gas station, I could tell that she was very stressed and was going to break down. If I was in her situation, I probably would have reacted in the same way. It was a very scary situation. She didn’t know if he was robbing her, or was going to rape her. She had lost everything at that point, and this creepy man was just the icing on the cake.
ReplyDelete2. I don’t relate to Wendy. I think that the only way I might relate to her, would be if I was homeless. That is because none of the things she went through, I have ever been through (besides losing my dog a few times). She is very different than me, so it is hard to relate to her. The only possible way I could relate to her is by owning a dog, but lots of people own dogs. It doesn’t mean that it’s a bad movie necessarily, but I just couldn’t relate to her.
3. I thought the scene where you can see her counting her money in order to keep track of her finances was really well done in the movie. It shows how much money she actually has, and how little it is. In the story it says, “She had $632 left. With fill-ups running almost 40$ apiece, twice a day, and the ferry almost $300, that left $200, more or less, for her remaining food and sundries” (211). It was the same in the movie. We got an idea of what she really had. Not much.
1. The scene that really stuck out to me was the one where the store clerk apprehended Wendy for shoplifting. It really accentuates the importance of perspective. The store clerk thought he was doing the right thing, which he was, but the audience is seeing this events through Wendy’s eyes. We as an audience have seen the relationship between Wendy and Lucy and so we automatically hate the store clerk from doing his job. However, he didn’t have the context of Wendy’s life. He doesn’t know Wendy and her circumstances. He made an assumption based on her actions, which is valid. He also didn’t know what happened after he took her in and the lengths she went through to find her dog. Perspective is everything, which is why this scene stuck out to me so much.
ReplyDelete2. I can’t relate to Wendy because of class. I’ve never known what it’s like to sleep in a car and having to use public bathrooms as your own bathroom. It’s a circumstance I never hope I have to be in. However, I gain perspective what it’s like to be really poor in America. Not fully but a glimpse into it. As a upper middle class, you don’t see the human story behind these people of poverty. You just kinda see in the street or drive past them in a car. Movies like this draws puts the viewer in a situation that they may never have to go through. It gives the viewer a new perspective.
3. “‘There’s enough gas, she said. “Plenty of gas.’‘Well you can’t park here,’ he said, ‘That’s the rules.’ ‘Yeah I get that,’ Verna said. It’s probably the serpentine belt’” (214). This is exactly word for word in this scene. This scene really sticks out to me because it is something that happens to everyone. You have someone repeatedly not to do that when you are trying to do the thing that they are telling you to do is something that has happened to me a lot. I react the same as Verna by “I get that. I’m trying to do it but it won’t let me.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis movie was a simple movie. It was nothing too complicated for anyone to comprehend and there wasn’t much going on. But the beauty in these types of movies is that the complexity lies in the unspoken, which is what makes it simple. For me, I think that Verna is a very raw and real character. A simple moment that stayed with me as I was reading the story and relating it back to the movie was when Verna was waiting for Jack to come to Walgreens and then Jack pulls up at around 9 and she sees his significant other, Holly. The narrator describes Verna in this situation: “Verna glanced at the woman in the car, feeling vaguely betrayed by the life Jack had outside the parking lot, the life he had been hiding from her. She had come to imagine they shared something that perhaps they might even have something to offer each other. But she could see now that was not the case. She could see he was not nearly as bad off as her. He was not nearly as bad off as she’d hoped” (249). I loved that part because Raymond does such an excellent job capturing the humanity of Verna. He portrays Verna as a human with selfish thoughts, which I believe is such a genuine portrayal of our species.
ReplyDeleteFor me, I felt as though Wendy and Verna were a little different. They did the same things, but what the book revealed about Verna’s thoughts was just something the camera couldn’t do. After reading this story, I realized the motivation behind Wendy’s actions in the movie. But even after just watching the movie, I found Wendy to be relatable. I found her character to be more human-like and raw in comparison to what I see in movies nowadays. For example, I think that in certain situations, like when Wendy’s engine was messed up, I would have reacted the same way that Wendy had. And when Wendy cussed when she was in certain situations, I would have done the same thing. I found her to be more relatable than I expected I would.
I think a moment that was portrayed really well in the movie was Wendy’s anxiety after the intruder came up to her in the woods to try to steal her belongings. As I was reading the story, I could imagine Wendy running to the Texaco and just letting all her anxiety go. The story does a very good job at explaining the event: “Alone, Verna succumbed to the panic she had been holding inside of her. Black terror descended like bats, sucking her breath away, and dry lightning flashed across her skin. She gasped for air and sweat streamed over her forehead and back. The world her visitor had emerged from was not so far away. It was only a few steps in either directions. At any moment, around any bend, she could be claimed by it” (247). Reading the story revealed the true meaning and feeling behind each of Wendy’s actions, because in this moment, especially the last sentence of that quote, the reader now knows that Wendy doesn’t want to live a life in “the world her visitor had emerged from.” And she knows that she is getting closer and closer to that world.
Whenever I think about the movie we watched earlier today, I can not get the grainy images of Icky and his band of misfits out of my head. They all seem super relaxed either because they are drunk or high. We talked about how all of the character are so good at acting that they come of as normal people in the film. I was actually afraid for Wendy because of all of the tension surrounding that scene around the fire pit. The other image that keeps popping up is of the homeless man that weirdly showed up to rummage around in Wendy's things while she was sleeping. The man screamed danger with his shaggy dimly lit hair and scratchy voice.
ReplyDeleteThe character Wendy is an actual person who lives in America right now. They can’t get a job because they have no address, and they can’t get an address without getting a job. This is downward spiral of capitalism that many people find themselves going through in their lives. Personally, I can’t relate to Wendy because I live in an upper class neighborhood where everybody has two or three cars in their driveway, one or two phones per person, and I bet that almost everybody has a master's degree of some kind. This does not mean that Wendy is not a reliable character in general. One of the reasons that Cannes Film Festival liked it so much was because of its rawness and truth.
At the very end of the story, Wendy is downright crushed when she is talking to Lucy about everything that has happened. ""Pretty nice, isn’t it?... Nice yard. This isn’t so bad...I lost the car, Lu." Verna said, sobbing. "I’m sorry..." And already the decision was made." This is verbatim what happened in the movie, so the scene was definitely written very well.
The moment that really stayed with me since Wednesday was at the very beginning when Wendy was playing fetch with Lucy. It is not the most significant scene but it is definitely the happiest one and even though this film left me feeling sort of bleak, it is nice to look back on that scene and enjoy the innocence and carefree feeling of it before things begin to go south for Wendy and her sweet dog.
ReplyDeleteI actually did find myself able to relate to Wendy in certain moments, and I definitely found myself sympathizing with her. Her moments of hopelessness and panic were not hard to picture myself in, under different circumstances, though I suppose this isn't the case for everyone. However, the thing about Wendy that I found most relatable was what I guess you'd call her 'weirdness'. She has a hard time connecting with people and is naturally more comfortable with her dog. I'd like to think I'm a bit more sociable than that but I do sometimes have difficulty connecting with people my own age, which makes me weird in some people's eyes.
The scene that I think transferred well to the screen was when Wendy is in the gas station bathroom after having her belongings stolen by the scary man in the woods. While reading this scene, I could see the clip from the movie in my head clearly. I think the film did a great job capturing the moment where Wendy breaks down and lets it all out once she's alone. "Vera braced herself against the sink. With effort, her breath returned to normal." I thought it was very important that the film stayed true to the story in that Wendy walked for a ways to get to that gas station and waited until she was alone to break down instead of immediately after the man had left.
The moment that stuck with me the most was the scene in the bathroom after she ran back from sleeping in in the woods. I think this was the first time we really saw Wendy display a really sense of panic and fear. The way she was ripping off her clothes and desperately was splashing water in her face was really powerful. To this point in the film, Wendy had put up a really strong front and had hardly shown any weakness. I don’t think this scene shows her as a weak character, but I think it just shows how much of a toll these problems are taking on her.
ReplyDeleteI found it really hard to relate to Wendy. Partly because I have never had to experience and struggle with many of the things that she has, but also because I don’t feel like I knew her very well. Even after following around Wendy throughout the entire film, I still felt very distance from her. It didn’t seem like I could predict the way she would act or like I understood what was going on in her head. She was quiet, well spoken, and seemed to keep to herself as much as possible. I just felt that even at the end of the movie, there was still so much we didn’t know about Wendy.
I think the part where the film did a really powerful job was the ending. The ending of the story says, “she was traveling ever deeper into a sterile, bone-dry planet of rock and sky”. In the film, we see Wendy having a very difficult time walking away from Lucy and grabbing all of her things and jumping on the train. The final image of the movement of her leaving Lucy and her old life is really important and shows the Wendy’s movement and feeling without having to explain.