Review: Showing Up

Image courtesy of A24.

 "Showing Up" is more of a low-key outing from director Kelly Reichardt - and that's really saying something. For the past 25-plus years, the filmmaker has been cranking out low budget indie films that one might describe as quiet in nature, often chronicling lower class denizens of the Pacific Northeast. 

Her previous - and, in my opinion, best - film was "First Cow," a picture that could be described as novelistic in its approach. Her latest feels more like a short story, and one with an observational approach and some consistently dry humor.

Her latest is set in the art world in what appears to once again be the Pacific Northeast. In this case, her protagonist is Lizzy - portrayed by Reichardt favorite Michelle Williams, whose most memorable previous collaboration was "Wendy and Lucy"- a sculptor who is preparing for an upcoming art show, but lacks the confidence or ability to market herself as her neighbor/landlord/fellow artist Jo (Hong Chau) is able to do.

Lizzy labors away in her studio on her evocative figurines of women, while also juggling some familial drama - her father (Judd Hirsch) likes to chase younger women, a fact brought to Lizzy's attention time and again by her mother (Maryann Plunkett), for whom Lizzy is an assistant, while her brother (John Magaro) is a reclusive artist who might be emotionally disturbed.

To add to her troubles, her mischievous cat drags an injured bird into the house, and Lizzy tosses it outside. The bird, still alive, is discovered by Jo, who nurses it back to health, but then foists it on Lizzy to be its babysitter. She begins to take a surprise liking to the pigeon - which is shuttled around in a box - although it distracts her from putting the finishing touches on her show.

Much like other Reichardt films, there are few turns of plot or moments when characters take lived experiences and use them to make life changes. "Showing Up" is mostly observational, and its easy pace and style requires some patience, but like other films in the director's oeuvre, there's payoff. 

The meaning of the film's title is left somewhat to the imagination. The phrase "showing up" can refer to being there for others - which, in this case, Jo drops by Lizzy's show, whereas the latter failed to do the same for the former. It can also refer to the mantra that "showing up" is often half the battle - which applies here to how Lizzy might feel ambivalent about elements of her work - she's particularly unhappy about how a kiln operator (Andre Benjamin) burnt her finest piece - while also accepting that she has to go with what she's got. A scene near the film's end at Lizzy's show involving the bird's fate makes me lean a little more toward the latter usage of the phrase.

"Showing Up" may be what one might call a minor work in Reichardt's filmography - and I can agree that it's not on the level of her great "First Cow" or as tightly controlled as, say, "Night Moves," but it's another of the director's easygoing explorations of a specific scene. It's often funny and the cast is all solid, making it well worth a look.