We hinted it at it in our ‘Fall Movie Preview Pt 2.’ piece: Michelle Williams’ performance in the Kelly Reichardt-helmed drama “Wendy & Lucy” is supposed to be astonishingly powerful. We’ve heard it from insiders very recently and we’d heard it from some of the glowing reviews at Cannes.
Reichardt of course, directed the understated and amazing under-the-wire indie fave, “Old Joy,” in 2006 and we’ve been looking forward to her follow-up ever since. Anne Thompson taking a look at some of the performances to watch out for at the Toronto International Film festival says much of the same when it comes to talk about Williams’ performance and notes an odd and eerie possibility: could Michelle Williams and the late father of her child, Heath Ledger both be Oscar nominees come February 2009? (it wouldn’t be the first time, they were both nominated for “Brokeback Mountain”)
The film is being distributed by Beastie Boy Adam Yauch’s Oscilloscope Pictures (who have made solid in-roads this year with acquiring some smart and tasteful indies this year) and Thompson says Williams’ turn is a “is a sad, four-handkerchief tour-de-force.”
Thompson think the chances of Williams earning a nom are a longshot, but look at something like a small-indie like “Junebug” which defied the odds to score Amy Adams a Best Actress nomination (one of the Oscars’ best move in recent years as the nom was well deserved). Like “Old Joy,” Reichardt’s latest also co-stars indie rocker Will Oldham. Yo La Tengo wrote the lovely score to “Old Joy,” but damned if we can’t seem to find in the credits who did the music here.
Regardless of any Oscar talk, “Wendy & Lucy” is a film we’ve been eagerly anticipating since it was announced at Cannes (we wrote about it excitedly back then) and it hits theaters on December 10, but hopefully we’ll see it either at TIFF ’08 or the New York Film Festival in September. Either way, the film will have lots of time to build word-of-mouth buzz with critics until then. More info on what the film’s about in our Fall preview piece.