Showing Up (film)

Showing Up is a 2022 American comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Kelly Reichardt, in her fourth collaboration with actress Michelle Williams. The film follows a sculptor managing the competing attentions of her art, job, family, and friendships.

Showing Up
Theatrical release poster
Directed byKelly Reichardt
Written by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyChristopher Blauvelt
Edited byKelly Reichardt
Music byEthan Rose
Production
company
FilmScience
Distributed byA24
Release dates
  • May 27, 2022 (2022-05-27) (Cannes)
  • April 7, 2023 (2023-04-07) (United States)
Running time
108 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1.2 million[2][3]

Showing Up premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 27, 2022, where it was nominated for the Palme d'Or.[4] The film was released theatrically in the United States by A24 on April 7, 2023.[5] It received mostly positive reviews, with particular praise for Williams' performance and Reichardt's direction.

Plot

Lizzy is a sculptor and arts administrator assistant for her mother at her alma mater, the Oregon College of Art and Craft. She is also working on a showing of her work, clay sculptures of women in joyful or anguished movement.

Lizzy's landlord and neighbor Jo, a rival artist, frequently spars with her. For days Lizzy is continuously reminding Jo to fix Lizzy's hot water heater, but Jo prioritizes everything else, like hanging a tire swing in the backyard and her two upcoming shows. To have enough time to finish her sculptures, Lizzy takes Tuesday off from work. In the middle of the night, Lizzy's cat maims a pigeon that flew into the house. Lizzy throws the pigeon outside, but Jo discovers and rescues it the next morning, before dumping the work of taking care of it on Lizzy. Lizzy is at first actively resentful before she begins to bond with the bird. She ends up taking it to the vet, which costs her $150. When Jo finally comes for the bird, Lizzy lets her know it distracted her and kept her from her glazing.

Lizzy visits her father at home. She does not trust the hippies who have invited themselves to stay with him, who are more grifters than friends. Lizzy discovers that he has not had contact with her brother Sean for six months. Concerned, Lizzy goes to see Sean. He has become reclusive, and is delusional, convinced that his neighbors are behind his TV antenna not working. Contacting their mother about it, Lizzy believes her brother needs more than just emotional help, but is told he is simply a misunderstood genius.

The weekend right before her show, Lizzy's final piece burns on one side in the kiln. Visiting Sean, he is digging a massive pit in his backyard and insists he is hearing voices, which Lizzy and others choose not to hear. She convinces her mother to come watch him. Lizzy's mother puts Sean to sleep after he suffers the mental episode. Although it was arranged that he would come to the show, when she arrives he is not there. Lizzy is nervous, hearing that he has wandered off alone.

At Lizzy's show her family shows up, even Sean, having taken the bus. Jo comes and brings the pigeon. It has its bandages removed by two unsupervised girls. Everyone watches as Sean releases the bird and it flies away. Jo and Lizzy go looking for it, but eventually accept it was ready to fly.

Cast

Production

On January 26, 2021, it was announced that Michelle Williams would star in Showing Up, in her fourth collaboration with writer-director Kelly Reichardt after Wendy and Lucy, Meek's Cutoff, and Certain Women.[7] In June 2021, Hong Chau, Judd Hirsch, Maryann Plunkett, John Magaro, André Benjamin, Heather Lawless, Amanda Plummer, Larry Fessenden, and James Le Gros joined the cast.[8] Principal photography began on June 7, 2021, and concluded on July 15, 2021, in Portland, Oregon.[9][10][11]

The project was originally conceived as a biopic of Canadian artist Emily Carr and the 10 years she spent as a landlord hoping it would offer her more free time to work on her art, but instead forced her to paint less.[12] Reichardt said the film officially pivoted away from Carr when she first embarked to Canada to research for the film and "the passport guy asked us what we were doing, and we said, 'We're coming to research a painter named Emily Carr.' And he goes, 'Oh yeah. We learned about her.' That took the wind out of our sails, that she was so famous."[12]

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of 154 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "A deceptively simple drama about the artist's life, Showing Up reunites Kelly Reichardt and Michelle Williams to absorbing effect."[13] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 85 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[14]

Accolades
Awards and nominations for Showing Up
Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
Cannes Film Festival May 17–28, 2022 Palme d'Or Kelly Reichardt Nominated [4]
International Cinephile Society Awards February 12, 2023 Best Picture Showing Up 19th place [15]
[16]
Best Supporting Actress Hong Chau Nominated
Gotham Awards November 27, 2023 Best Feature Showing Up Pending [17]
Lead Performance Michelle Williams Pending

References
  1. "Showing Up". Cannes Film Festival. Archived from the original on June 29, 2022. Retrieved May 9, 2022.
  2. "Showing Up (2023)". The Numbers. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
  3. "Showing Up (2023)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
  4. Turnquist, Kristi (April 18, 2022). "Portland-filmed Showing Up, starring Michelle Williams, to compete in 2022 Cannes Film Festival". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on April 19, 2022. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
  5. Fear, David (January 12, 2023). "The Most Anticipated Movies of 2023". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on February 22, 2023. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  6. "Press Notes" (PDF). A24. pp. 15–20. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 23, 2023. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
  7. Kroll, Justin (January 26, 2021). "Michelle Williams And Kelly Reichardt Reunite On The A24 Film Showing Up". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on September 14, 2021. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  8. Kroll, Justin (June 15, 2021). "Hong Chau, André Benjamin, Judd Hirsch, John Magaro, Others Join Michelle Williams In A24 & Kelly Reichardt's Showing Up". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on April 11, 2022. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  9. "Film and TV Projects Going Into Production – Showing Up". Variety Insight. Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  10. Skinner, Tom (May 20, 2021). "Acclaimed Director Kelly Reichardt Is Shooting Her Next Film in Portland and Looking for Extras". Willamette Week. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  11. Kroll, Justin (June 15, 2021). "André 3000 (and his flute) spotted at Portland open mic night". NME. Archived from the original on July 20, 2021. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  12. "A Need to Focus: Guy Maddin Interviews Kelly Reichardt About Showing Up". Filmmaker. March 16, 2023. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  13. "Showing Up". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
  14. "Showing Up". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
  15. "Aftersun and Pacifiction Lead ICS Nominations". International Cinephile Society Awards. Archived from the original on August 15, 2023. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  16. "ICS Finds a Hidden Love Letter in Trenque Lauquen". International Cinephile Society Awards. February 12, 2023. Archived from the original on August 15, 2023. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  17. Davis, Clayton; Lang, Brent (October 24, 2023). "Gotham Awards Nominations: 'All of Us Strangers' Leads With Four Nominations". Variety. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.