“Wendy and Lucy,” 2 August 2009 (2008), DVD. Very fine, small film about class, gender, love, aloneness, and America. Wendy is a young woman driving from Indiana to Alaska where, she hears, they need people. She has little money as she reaches a depressed little city in Oregon. She’s arrested for shoplifting, her car dies, and she loses her dog Some people help her, some don’t. Kindness is hard to come by but it’s not absent. Realist filmmaking in a true American mold, it springs from the ‘70s avant garde through folks like Gus Van Sant in the 80s. It is simple and deeply meaningful. Much is left unfinished. Not hand held camera work, some lovely shots, but a simple plain story. Both Bronwen and I really liked it although we came away with different views of what was happening. It’s that good. See this one.