Peter Charney’s review published on Letterboxd:
New York Film Festival #2
After really loving my first few encounters with the work of Kelly Reichardt, I was unfortunately a bit let down by her newest film. I especially expected to love Showing Up as I tend to gravitate towards films about artists, the artistic process, and how that lifestyle balances with every other aspect of life a person has to deal with. While Showing Up is inherently about all of those things in its presentation, I didn't find that it had too much to say about that struggle beyond simply showing a character trapped within it.
Where Reichardt's work is typically slight in plot, there's also a strong clarity in character and a pretty straightforward, yet effective momentum of narrative. Even though we know where this film is heading, it doesn't seem particularly concerned about actually getting there or the stakes at play along the way. There's an effective plot payoff near the end that certainly moved me, but it was hard to connect to any thematic takeaway related to the rest of the piece.
I'm torn because I think Michelle Williams is doing some really strong work in the nuance of certain glances and expressions — she's able to communicate a lot without much text — but at the same time, this character feels like an enigma throughout the entire runtime as it's difficult to see what she wants on a broader spectrum. It's a very effective portrayal of someone burnt out on the artistic grind, but ultimately, that's how we find this character and that's how we leave her, without much that changes in between.
Showing Up felt too empty to me. In a story world that I should have connected with immediately, I’m frustrated by how little I ever did.
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