Movie Review: ‘Showing Up’

Review by James Lindorf

Kelly Reichardt has directed eight films in her nearly 30-year career. All of them have been highly regarded, even if they didn’t make a splash in the mainstream. Half of her films have starred the wonderfully talented Michelle Williams. The pair first partnered up for “Wendy and Lucy” in 2008, then came “Meek’s Cutoff” in 2010, “Certain Women” in 2016, and now “Showing Up,” which is available in a limited number of markets but continuing to expand.

Michelle Williams stars as Lizzy, one of Portland’s many struggling but not yet starving artists. Lizzy is under much pressure as she is just days away from a solo show at a small gallery. Most films with an artist as its subject will focus on the depth of their struggles or the frenzied nature of their genius. Reichardt takes a different approach choosing to give Lizzy a middling life and focusing on how having a job doing something you love is still work. Lizzy seems to find little joy in anything: from her day job in a school’s office to caring for a pigeon injured by her cat. She even focuses more on her show’s impending deadline than the excitement of having her show.

Lizzy approaches her personal relationships with the same drive as she does her work. She loves her family, but every relationship is strained in its own way. Like Lizzy, her mother, Jean (Maryann Plunkett), seems just to be going through the motions of life without a passion for much of anything. Their relationship is complicated because Jean is Lizzy’s boss, and she and Lizzy’s father may have had a less-than-amicable divorce. Her dad Bill (Judd Hirsch), is a former artist of some renowned who appears to have given it all up in a mid-life-crisis style move that baffles Lizzy. Her brother Sean (John Magaro) also followed their father’s footsteps into the art world. Unfortunately, his art, career, and life are ruled by fairly significant mental health issues, which are a constant concern for Lizzy. Lizzy’s most complex relationship is the one she has with fellow artist and pigeon nurse Jo (Hong Chau). Jo is not only a peer but also Lizzy’s neighbor, her landlord, and perhaps her best friend.

While all of this sounds incredibly messy and ripe for drama, with someone inevitably making a big scene at her show, that is not what Reichardt is going for. She wants viewers to appreciate how Lizzy keeps trudging along, surrounded by self-doubt and explosive personalities. All of the elements, like lighting, sound, and cinematography, are fine; Reichardt doesn’t demand much from those teams, so it is no surprise that the professionals delivered precisely what was asked for. It is hard to say that Michelle Williams shines because it is such a low-energy performance. However, when taken in the context of her entire career, you can see her go big in “The Fablemans,” be stricken with grief in “Manchester by the Sea,” or go small, almost fragile, in “Showing Up.” There aren’t many actors who can challenge the range of her acting ability, and that should always be appreciated.

Despite the quality of the craftsmanship that went into the construction of “Showing Up,” unprepared viewers may regret doing just that. If you are unwilling to read between the lines and completely surrender to the film and Michelle Williams’ fantastically understated performance, “Showing Up” is painfully dull. It may reward the most ardent of viewers, but it seems designed to cut itself off from the masses unnecessarily. In her effort to not give into tropes and expectations, Reichardt forgot rule number one, be entertaining, and earned a paltry 2 out of 5.

Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Producer: Neil Kopp, Vincent Savino, Anish Savjani
Writer: Jonathan Raymond, Kelly Reichardt
Limited Release Date: April 7th, 2023
Runtime: 1h 48m
Distributor: A24