Lizzy (Michelle Williams) is stressed. Her sculpture exhibition is in a week and she still hasn’t finished every piece. Her hot water is broken and her friend and landlord Jo (Hong Chau) still hasn’t fixed it, as she’s preparing for two shows of her own. She works an admin job at the Oregon College of Art and Craft where her mother, Jean (Maryann Plunkett), is her boss; her father Bill (Judd Hirsch) is letting some drifters stay at his house for some reason, and her brother Sean (John Magaro) hasn’t been doing well mentally. Plus, her cat has attacked a pigeon and now she’s taken it upon herself to nurse it back to health. It feels like the world is against her, but Lizzy isn’t giving up quite yet, despite her general attitude.

Showing Up, the latest film by Kelly Reichardt, is a lovely comedy about the world of an overextended artist, raising questions about what it means to create and how life won’t stop just because you need a second to breathe. Williams is completely transformed as Lizzy, a total 180 in physicality from Mitzi Fabelman. She’s exhausted, snippy, and passive aggressive when she could just go work. Every character feels real and lived-in, especially Hong Chau’s extremely dry Jo, a woman happily wrestling some foam blocks on a tire swing while holding a conversation. Everyone has a different process, and Lizzy tries to draw inspiration from them, but keeps getting in her own way. When Lizzy does actually get to work, the results are magical. There is a long take of Lizzy gently attaching an arm to one of her “girls” that sucks you in, in awe of the process. While Lizzy’s sculptures are provided by artist Cynthia Lahti, Williams does enough of her own work for you to believe they’re all hers.

Light looks different in the Pacific Northwest – there’s something about how the sun sets over there that gives the film an ethereal quality. The characters are in another world, not too different from our own but somewhat heightened. Showing Up is a window into that world of artists and deliberate work, one with plenty of interpersonal issues raising the stakes or providing a laugh. Any movie with the credit “Flute provided by André Benjamin” is going to be worth your time.

Showing Up
2023
Dir. Kelly Reichardt
108 min

Opens Friday, 4/14 @ Kendall Square Cinema and AMC Boston Common