Rated R. At AMC Boston Common and Landmark Kendall Square.
A light comedy about rivals in an art college town, Kelly Reichardt’s “Showing Up” reunites the director and co-writer with the actor Michelle Williams for the fourth time. At this point, we might say that Williams is Reichardt’s muse and alter ego in the manner of many directors before her such as Federico Fellini and Marcello Mastroianni.
In this outing filmed in Portland, Oregon, Williams plays Lizzy, an artist who works for a local college and lives in a flat owned by a fellow artist and neighbor named Jo (Hong Chau). Lizzy makes small, fired clay figurines resembling dolls in distress. Jo makes large 2D sculptures made of colored string resembling dream catchers. An edgy, competitive spirit permeates much of their exchanges. They both have shows coming up. Lizzy’s is first and it will be at a local gallery. Lizzy, who wears slipper-like shoes outdoors and has a frumpy walk, has a ginger-striped tiger cat named Nickie that mauls a pigeon. She tries with Jo’s help to nurse the pigeon back to health. In the meantime, she and Jo take turns watching after the bandaged, immobilized creature, which they keep in a box.
As it turns out, Lizzy works in an office run her mother. Lizzy is concerned about her father Bill (Judd Hirsch), who is playing host to a Canadian couple. Lizzy fears they may be freeloaders. One of the Canadians is played by veteran Amanda Plummer (“The Fisher King”). Lizzy’s father is a potter, whose work had an obvious influence on his daughter. Lizzy has had no hot water for two weeks, and her landlord Jo does not seem, um, fired up about getting it fixed. In one encounter, Jo tells Lizzy that her rent is “low,” suggesting that she should not expect perfection.
Lizzy and Jo are surrounded by creativity and expression. We see looms, a dye factory, students engaging in “creative movement” in the grass. Lizzy uses a kiln at the college that is operated by Eric (Andre Benjamin) to fire her figures. One of them, Lizzy’s favorite, gets a bit scorched (another metaphor?). But Eric assures her that it is all part of the process and perfectly normal. Lizzy has a brother named Sean (John Magaro, Reichardt’s “First Cow”), who has mental issues. He lives alone and digs a large and deep hole in his backyard, perhaps symbolic of the abyss he feels within.
“Showing Up” is a typically minimalist, offbeat effort from Reichardt (“Meek’s Crossing,” “Wendy and Lucy”), who graduated from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. It’s a realist drama focusing on the daily lives and endeavors of not-quite-ordinary people. The injured pigeon, like the cow in “First Cow” becomes more than just a pigeon. It represents the rivalry between Lizzy and Jo, and the one who has the pigeon in hand naturally has the upper hand. Sean shows up at Lizzy’s show and begins to devour ravenously all of her cheese h’ors d’oeuvres. Bill also shows up with, of course, the happy-to-accept-a-free-glass-of-wine Canadian freeloaders. Children at the show play with the pigeon. Some future film graduate student is going to write a thesis about the use of animals in Reichardt’s work. Is it possible this Reichardt film will have a winged ending?
(“Showing Up” contains brief graphic nudity)