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Kelly Reichardt
Reichardt in 2020
Born (1964-03-03) March 3, 1964 (age 60)
Miami, Florida, U.S.
Alma materSchool of the Museum of Fine Arts
Occupation(s)Film director, screenwriter
Years active1994–present

Kelly Reichardt (/ˈraɪkɑːrt/; born March 3, 1964)[1] is an American film director and screenwriter.[2] She is known for her minimalist films closely associated with slow cinema,[3][4] many of which deal with working-class characters in small, rural communities.[5][6]

Reichardt made her feature film debut with River of Grass (1994) and subsequently directed a series of films set and filmed in Oregon: the dramas Old Joy (2006) and Wendy and Lucy (2008); the Western Meek's Cutoff (2010); and the thriller Night Moves (2013). In 2016, she wrote and directed the Montana-set drama Certain Women, and in 2019 she directed First Cow, set in Oregon.

Early life and education

Reichardt was born in 1964 and raised in Miami, Florida. She developed a passion for photography when she was young. Her parents were law enforcement officers who separated when she was young. She earned her MFA at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Reichardt has served as the S. William Senfeld Artist in Residence at Bard College since 2006. [7][8]

Film career

Reichardt's debut film River of Grass was released in 1994. It was nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards,[9] and the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. It was named one of the best films of 1995 by the Boston Globe, Film Comment, and The Village Voice. Reichardt then had trouble making another feature film, saying, "I had 10 years from the mid-1990s when I couldn’t get a movie made. It had a lot to do with being a woman. That’s definitely a factor in raising money. During that time, it was impossible to get anything going, so I just said, ‘Fuck you!’ and did Super 8 shorts instead."[10]

In 1999, Reichardt completed her second feature, Ode, based on Herman Raucher's novel Ode to Billy Joe. Next she made two short films, Then a Year, in 2001, and Travis, which deals with the Iraq War, in 2004.[11] In these two films, critics have noted that she subtly makes clear her displeasure with the Bush administration and its handling of the Iraq War.[10]

Most of Reichardt's films are regarded by critics to be part of the minimalist movement in films,[10] though Reichardt sees a difference between her work and the movement as a whole.[12]

After Todd Haynes, a close friend of Reichardt, made Safe, she drove Haynes to Portland from the Seattle Film Festival, where she met writer Jon Raymond and Neil Kopp, who respectively wrote and produced several of Reichardt's films.[12] In 2006, she completed Old Joy, based on a short story in Raymond's collection Livability. Daniel London and singer-songwriter Will Oldham portray two friends who reunite for a camping trip to the Cascades and Bagby Hot Springs, near Portland.[13] The film won awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Rotterdam International Film Festival, and Sarasota Film Festival. Notably, it was the first American film to win the Tiger Award at the Rotterdam Film Festival. Kopp won the Producer's Award at the 2007 Independent Spirit Awards for his work on Old Joy and Paranoid Park.

For her next film, Wendy and Lucy, Reichardt and Raymond adapted another story from Livability. The film explores loneliness and hopelessness through the story of a woman looking for her lost dog. It was released in December 2008 and earned Oscar buzz for lead actress Michelle Williams. It was nominated for Best Film and Best Female Lead at the Independent Spirit Awards. Reichardt then directed Meek's Cutoff, a Western also starring Williams. It competed for the Golden Lion at the 67th Venice International Film Festival in 2010.[14]

In 2013, Reichardt's film Night Moves debuted in competition at the 70th Venice International Film Festival. A more intense thriller about a secret plot to blow up a dam, it was considered a shift in tone from her other slower, more melancholic films.

Reichardt's film Certain Women is based on Maile Meloy's 2009 short-story collection Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It, and was shot in March–April 2015 in Montana. Michelle Williams, Laura Dern, and Kristen Stewart star.[15] Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions (SPWA) bought the rights to distribution.[16] The film premiered on January 24, 2016, at the Sundance Film Festival. Reichardt won the top award at the 2016 London Film Festival for Certain Women.[17]

In October 2016, Reichardt revealed that on her next film she would collaborate with author Patrick DeWitt on an adaptation of his novel Undermajordomo Minor, which might be shot outside of the U.S.[18][19] In October 2018, it was announced that Reichardt had put Undermajordomo Minor on hold and would instead reunite with Raymond to direct First Cow, an adaptation of his novel The Half-Life.[20]

Reichardt's films have received positive reviews from critics, with all of them above 80% (certified fresh) on the film reviews aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with the highest being River of Grass and First Cow (both 95%). Her films have not been big box-office successes, with Certain Women the most successful at $1.1 million.[21]

Reichardt is an Artist-in-Residence in the Film and Electronic Arts program at Bard College.[22] She has received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship.[23] She edits her films herself.[10]

Style and themes

Reichardt's films have often been called minimalist and realist, with film critic A. O. Scott describing Wendy and Lucy as part of a new American Independent cinema he termed "Neo-Neo Realism", primarily due to its thematic and aesthetic similarity to classic Italian neorealist films such as Rome Open City and Paisan.[10] Reichardt has called her films "just glimpses of people passing through".[24] She also recognizes her style as minimalist, saying, "A movie is a series of reveals, essentially, and then you're supposed to sit in a room and tell someone what it all means. That goes against everything that I just worked for, so I have no interest in summing it all up. It's all out there".[25] Her films' realist tendencies position them in line with Matthew Flanagan's idea of slow cinema. Their long takes, minimal dialogue and minimalist action are all characteristics of slow cinema that allow the audience time for contemplation.[26] This style may also be in response to more mainstream films; Reichardt has said, "when I go to the movies and I sit through the previews, I literally feel assaulted."[12]

Reichardt's films often focus on characters on the margins of society, who are not usually represented on screen, or who are seeking a better quality of life and place in the world. She is interested in characters "who don’t have a net, who if you sneezed on them, their world would fall apart".[27] Her films tackle aspects of the American experience the commercial film industry seldom explores. Eric Kohn of Indiewire has called her films "a mesmerizing statement on the solitude of everyday life for working-class people who want something better. They’re trapped between a mythology of greatness and the personal limitations that govern their drab realities. By attending to atmosphere and attitude as much as plot, Reichardt has quietly become one of the country’s best chroniclers of the American experience".[28]

Reichardt's films often contain references to modern times and political events. Of Meek’s Cutoff, she said, "Here was the story of this braggart leading a bunch of people into the desert without a plan and becoming completely reliant on the locals who are socially different from him and who he is suspicious of. All of which seemed relevant to the moment"[10] (in reference to the Iraq War and George W. Bush). Reichardt has confirmed that the character Meek was meant to resemble Bush. Wendy and Lucy also reflects the economic hardships that affected millions of Americans (particularly women, whom the film suggests are affected more than men) as a result of the high costs and collateral damage from the war.[10] Reichardt's 2013 film Night Moves has more overt political references. The three protagonists are radical environmentalists,[29] and the film is set in Oregon, a state with many notable instances of environmental protest, particularly against its lumber industry[30] and in defense of the Northern Spotted Owl, an indicator species of the Pacific Northwest.[31] Reichardt has said, "Jon Raymond wanted to write a script about a group of fundamentalists and instead of looking to the right, he wrote about these young lefty radicals—people with a more relatable and, to our eyes, a more justified agenda. [...] I think what drew me to the Jon Raymond stories is his ability to write politically without writing politically. There’s no message in a Raymond story, no clear ideological path. It’s all murky territory, and murky is more of a challenge than a straight shot to something. Ultimately they are all character films."[32][page needed]

Critics have noted that Reichardt's films often have ambiguous endings that leave the audience hanging and unsatisfied. Xan Brooks of The Guardian uses the examples of "wonky Kurt, left wandering city streets at the end of Old Joy, hapless Wendy, still looking for Alaska, or Meek’s Cutoff’s lost pioneers, forever strung between triumph and disaster. These films do not so much resolve as dissolve. They leave us dangling, forced to write their third acts in our heads”.[24] Reichardt has said, "Maybe I’m suspicious of absolutes. I mean, yes, there is something satisfying about watching an old film when the music rises up and the words come at you: The End. But it would seem absurd to do that at the end of one of my films. It would just make them feel lopsided, because they’re all so short, they cover so little time. We don’t know where these people were before. We spent a week with them and then on they went".[24] She has also said that she enjoys films that let the audience find their own way in and come to their own conclusions.[24]

Reichardt's films contain feminist ideas in both style and content, rejecting mainstream commercial filmmaking methods and focusing on gender (most have female lead characters), but she rejects the label "feminist filmmaker". She rejects mainstream methods by using small budgets, filming on location (most of her films are shot in Oregon), and refusing to romanticize her characters and their struggles. Even her films that have male protagonists address gender issues. In Old Joy, which stars two men and was spoken about at festivals as an LGBT film,[33] the theme of male friendship is highlighted and addressed through feminized qualities of sensitivity and vulnerability rarely seen in mainstream Hollywood cinema. In Night Moves, Dakota Fanning's character serves as a strong female counterpoint to Jesse Eisenberg's male protagonist, and the film's environmental storyline reflects eco-feminist values. Reichardt also diverges from the mainstream with her films' avant-garde content. River of Grass segments the narrative into numbered sections, and Certain Women is also divided into episodes. Reichardt's realism and camera angles reject the objectification of bodies and challenge audience expectations by lingering on seemingly insignificant images after characters have left a scene.[26]

Reichardt has frequently collaborated with actress Michelle Williams, saying that she enjoys Williams's confidence and inquisitive nature, and that she can never guess what she's going to do.[34]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Director Writer Editor Ref.
1994 River of Grass Yes Yes No [6]
2006 Old Joy Yes Yes Yes [6]
2008 Wendy and Lucy Yes Yes Yes [6]
2010 Meek's Cutoff Yes No Yes [6]
2013 Night Moves Yes Yes Yes [6]
2016 Certain Women Yes Yes Yes [6]
2019 First Cow Yes Yes Yes [35]
2022 Showing Up Yes Yes Yes

Short film

Year Title Director Writer DoP Ref.
1999 Ode Yes Yes Yes [36]
2001 Then a Year Yes No No [37]
2004 Travis Yes No No [38]

Accolades

Year Institution Category Nominated work Result Ref.
1994 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic River of Grass Nominated [39]
1996 Independent Spirit Awards Best First Feature Nominated
Best First Screenplay Nominated
Someone to Watch Award Nominated
2006 Gotham Independent Film Awards Best Feature Old Joy Nominated
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards The Douglas Edwards Experimental/Independent Film/Video Award Won
2007 Independent Spirit Awards John Cassavetes Award Nominated
2008 Alliance of Women Film Journalists Best Woman Director Wendy and Lucy Nominated
Best Woman Screenwriter Nominated
Cannes Film Festival Un Certain Regard Nominated
Chicago International Film Festival Gold Hugo (Best Feature) Nominated
2010 Venice International Film Festival Golden Lion Meek's Cutoff Nominated [40]
SIGNIS Award Won
2011 Alliance of Women Film Journalists Best Woman Director Nominated
Gotham Independent Film Awards Best Feature Nominated
2013 Venice International Film Festival Golden Lion Night Moves Nominated
2016 Alliance of Women Film Journalists Best Woman Director Certain Women Nominated
Best Woman Screenwriter Won
Gotham Independent Film Awards Best Feature Nominated [41]
Audience Award Nominated
London Film Festival Best Film Won [42]
2017 Independent Spirit Awards Best Director Nominated [43]
2020 Alliance of Women Film Journalists Best Director First Cow Nominated
Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay Nominated
Best Woman Director Nominated
Austin Film Critics Association Awards Best Director Nominated [44]
Berlin International Film Festival Golden Bear Nominated [45]
Critics' Choice Awards Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated [46]
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards Best Director Nominated
Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated
Gotham Independent Film Awards Best Feature Nominated [47]
Best Screenplay Nominated
Independent Spirit Awards The Bonnie Award Herself Won [48]
USC Scripter Award First Cow Nominated [49]
2021 Independent Spirit Awards Best Director Nominated [50]
British Independent Film Awards Best International Independent Film Nominated [51]
2022 75th Locarno Film Festival Pardo d’onore Manor Kelly Reichardt Honored [52]

Bibliography

  • James Lattimer, Eva Sangiorgi, ed., Textur #2: Kelly Reichardt. Viennale – Vienna International Film Festival 2020, ISBN 978-3-901770-49 4
  • Seymour, Nicole; Fusco, Katherine (2017). Kelly Reichardt (Contemporary Film Directors). University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0252083051.

See also

References

  1. ^ "United States Public Records, 1970-2009," (May 16, 2014), Kelly A. Reichardt, Residence, North Miami, Florida, United States. Retrieved May 9, 2019. (subscription required)
  2. ^ Hudson, D.W. (September 22, 2008). "NYFF: Wendy and Lucy". GreenCine Daily. Archived from the original on June 25, 2013. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
  3. ^ Smith, Nigel M (March 1, 2017). "Kelly Reichardt: 'Faster, faster, faster – we all want things faster'". The Guardian.
  4. ^ 20 Slow Films From This Century That Reward Patience — Taste of Cinema
  5. ^ Kohn, Eric (October 13, 2016). "Kelly Reichardt Is One of the Best Filmmakers in America, and We Don't Appreciate Her Enough — NYFF". Indiewire. Archived from the original on December 25, 2016.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Brown, Sophie (March 14, 2017). "Where to begin with Kelly Reichardt". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on April 6, 2019.
  7. ^ College, Bard. "Kelly Reichardt". www.bard.edu. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
  8. ^ Acclaimed Filmmaker, Bard College Faculty Member Kelly Reichardt to Join Jury at Cannes Film Festival - Bard College
  9. ^ 11th annual Spirit Awards ceremony hosted by Samuel L. Jackson - full show (1996) | Film Independent on YouTube
  10. ^ a b c d e f g "Kelly Reichardt • Great Director profile • Senses of Cinema". sensesofcinema.com. Retrieved November 17, 2018.
  11. ^ Hall 2018, pp. 36, 42.
  12. ^ a b c Fusco, Katherine; Seymour, Nicole (December 1, 2017). Kelly Reichardt. University of Illinois Press. doi:10.5622/illinois/9780252041242.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-252-04124-2.
  13. ^ Hall 2018, pp. 45–47.
  14. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (September 6, 2010). "Meek's Cutoff and Post Mortem shine at Venice film festival". The Guardian.
  15. ^ McNary, Dave (February 27, 2015). "Kristen Stewart Joins Kelly Reichardt's Montana Drama". Variety.
  16. ^ Mike Fleming Jr (April 16, 2015). "Kelly Reichardt's New Film Lands At Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions". Deadline.
  17. ^ "60th BFI London Film Festival announces 2016 awards winners" (Press release). BFI. October 17, 2016. Retrieved October 18, 2016.
  18. ^ "With rugged feminist piece 'Certain Women,' Kelly Reichardt shows why she's the last indie purist (for now)". Los Angeles Times. October 21, 2016.
  19. ^ Tauer, Kristen (October 14, 2016). "'Certain Women' Director Kelly Reichardt Discusses Her Latest Film". Women's Wear Daily.
  20. ^ Raup, Jordan (October 31, 2018). "Kelly Reichardt Sets 'Certain Women' Follow-Up with 'First Cow'". The Film Stage. Retrieved November 25, 2018.
  21. ^ "Kelly Reichardt". www.rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved November 17, 2018.
  22. ^ "Faculty: Kelly Reichardt". Bard College. June 20, 2014. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
  23. ^ "Kelly Reichardt". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. 2014. Archived from the original on July 28, 2014. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
  24. ^ a b c d Brooks, Xan (August 21, 2014). "Kelly Reichardt: 'My films are just glimpses of people passing through'". the Guardian. Retrieved November 17, 2018.
  25. ^ "Director Kelly Reichardt explores idealism in Night Moves". Retrieved November 17, 2018.
  26. ^ a b Hall, E. Dawn (2018). The films of Kelly Reichardt. ISBN 9781474444620. OCLC 1054396795.
  27. ^ Gregory, Alice. "The Quiet Menace of Kelly Reichardt's Feminist Westerns". Retrieved November 17, 2018.
  28. ^ Kohn, Eric (October 3, 2016). "Kelly Reichardt Is One of the Best Filmmakers in America, and We Don't Appreciate Her Enough — NYFF". IndieWire. Retrieved November 17, 2018.
  29. ^ Night Moves (2013) - IMDb, retrieved December 4, 2021
  30. ^ JOHNSON, JEFF (August 13, 2007). "House Passes Energy Bills". Chemical & Engineering News Archive. 85 (33): 13. doi:10.1021/cen-v085n033.p013. ISSN 0009-2347.
  31. ^ "American Lands Alliance - Protecting and Restoring our National Forests - Issues". June 13, 2007. Archived from the original on June 13, 2007. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
  32. ^ Hall 2018.
  33. ^ Hall 2018, p. 3.
  34. ^ "'Certain Women' director on working with Michelle Williams". am New York. Retrieved November 17, 2018.
  35. ^ Nordine, Michelle (October 31, 2018). "'First Cow': Kelly Reichardt's Follow-Up to 'Certain Women' Is a Period Piece Set in Oregon and China". Indiewire. Archived from the original on November 3, 2018.
  36. ^ Mathieson, Craig (May 31, 2011). "Retrospective: Kelly Reichardt". SBS. Archived from the original on May 9, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
  37. ^ Hall 2018, p. 36.
  38. ^ Hall 2018, p. 42.
  39. ^ Hall 2018, p. 16.
  40. ^ "67th Venice Film Festival Collateral Awards". labiennale.org. November 9, 2010. Archived from the original on June 23, 2011.
  41. ^ Setoodeh, Ramin (November 28, 2016). "'Moonlight' Sweeps the Gotham Awards, Winning Best Film". Variety. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  42. ^ "60th BFI London Film Festival announces 2016 awards winners" (Press release). British Film Institute. October 17, 2016. Retrieved October 18, 2016.
  43. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (November 22, 2016). "Spirit Awards Nominations: 'Moonlight', 'American Honey', 'Manchester' & 'Jackie' Rally". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved November 22, 2016.
  44. ^ Partridge, Jon (March 12, 2021). "2020 Austin Film Critics Association Award Nominations". Austin Film Critics Association. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
  45. ^ "The Awards of the 70th Berlin International Film Festival" (PDF). Berlinale. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  46. ^ "Film nominees for the 26th annual Critics Choice Awards have been announced". Critics Choice Association. February 8, 2021. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  47. ^ "Nominations Announced for 30th IFP Gotham Awards". Independent Filmmaker Project. November 12, 2020. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
  48. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony; Blyth, Antonia (February 8, 2020). "Independent Spirit Awards Redresses Female Balance With Wins For Lulu Wang, Olivia Wilde & Julia Reichert – Complete Winners List". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
  49. ^ Hipes, Patrick (January 26, 2021). "USC Scripter Awards Nominees Include 'Nomadland', 'One Night In Miami', 'Queen's Gambit', 'Unorthodox'". Deadline. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
  50. ^ Lewis, Hilary (January 26, 2021). "Film Independent Spirit Awards: 'Never Rarely Sometimes Always', 'Minari', 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom', 'Nomadland' Top Nominations". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
  51. ^ "'Belfast,' 'Boiling Point' Lead BIFA Nominations". British Independent Film Awards. November 3, 2021. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  52. ^ Desroches, Thomas (August 1, 2022). "Locarno 2022 : Brad Pitt et Sophie Marceau en sélection, Matt Dillon honoré par le Festival" [Locarno 2022: Brad Pitt and Sophie Marceau in selection, Matt Dillon honored by the Festival titles]. Allocine (in French). Retrieved August 11, 2022.

Sources

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