Wendy (Michelle Williams) is making her way to Alaska, and has currently stopped in an Oregon town, but is having problems. She has meticulously worked out her cash, what there is of it, and how she can survive until she gets her new job in a cannery up North, though she did not count on not everything going to plan. Her closest companion, indeed her only companion, is her pet dog Lucy, and she dotes on her as they travel in Wendy's car, which doubles as her home. At one point while out walking the dog, she worries that she has gone astray, but meets a group of drifters not unlike herself who Lucy has approached. So she found her this time...
But next time, well, she may strike a hitch. This film was a low key follow up to writer and director Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy, and similar in tone though in effect far more heartbreaking, especially if you were a pet owner. Be warned, this film could creep up on you and what looked to be a prosaic indie drama worked emotional trauma on the viewer by the closing stages, and not in the manner that you might have thought at the start. What you quickly come to realise is that Wendy may be as self-sufficient as she can be, but in fact she needs a friend, and Lucy is the best one she has, so take her out of the equation and the girl falls apart.
Not to the extent that she ends up curled up on the floor mewling, as Wendy tends to keep her emotions in check, but it's plain that if she loses her pooch then she will have left a major piece of her life behind. So of course that's precisely what Reichardt does to her, which may speak to good drama but is cruel to her lead character, especially as it looks to be her own fault that Lucy gets lost. The director may be sympathetic, but adapting a story by co-writer Jon Raymond she is not afraid to allow her protagonist to face up to harsh realities, and by extension make us watching do the same.
If you're up for that kind of manipulation, then there's no denying the skill that Reichardt brings it about, as Wendy wakes up to find that her car won't start, and she cannot afford to get it fixed on her budget. Therefore she takes the most foolhardy option and goes shoplifting at the nearest supermarket, and of course is caught: and all because she wanted to feed her hungry pet. Lucy is left tied to a railing outside the store, and Wendy is escorted to the police station where she is kept in the cells for far too long, most of the rest of the day actually, and by the time she's paid her fine and returned to the place she last saw Lucy, the dog has gone. To make matters worse, nobody knows where she went.
Now the woman has lost her pet and cannot start her car, she has to rely on the kindness of strangers to get by. This is a double-edged sword, as while a security guard (Wally Dalton) sees she's in need of help and does his best to assist, the owner (Will Patton) of the garage she goes to see about the vehicle is far less accomodating and although he is never exposed, appears to be trying to take Wendy for her last cent in regard to fixing her transport. Her need to stand on her own two feet is deceptive, and Williams offers a wonderfully subtle performance which she only lets erupt into outright emotion at a couple of key moments, otherwise she keeps herself in check as we recognise Wendy does this to survive. Sometimes we can understand the depth of her loneliness, as when she calls her sister hundreds of miles away and gets little comfort, or when she describes Lucy as having a "friendly face" on the lost posters she puts up around town. It's at the end, however, that a desolation sets in, and she may be being pragmatic, but knows this turn of events is hurting her in the long run.
