Cannes Palm d’Or nominee!

Like the distinctive artwork made by Showing Up’s sculptor protagonist, Kelly Reichardt’s 8th feature is beautifully crafted, a modest gem that grows in impact the more one examines it. Frequent collaborator Michelle Williams portrays a profoundly discontented artist who can’t seem to shake a general malaise. As always, Reichardt uses a deceptively tiny story to create something universal and true, eliciting some wry smiles along the way. Williams plays Lizzy, a Portland sculptor. Showing Up examines Lizzy’s daily struggles and frequent nuisances that make it hard for her to focus on her work. Chief among these irritants is Jo (Hong Chau), a more successful artist who has rented an apartment to Lizzy, and the playfully condescending treatment of Eric (André Benjamin, aka rap artist Andre 3000), a smug teacher at the art school which Lizzy once attended and where she now works at as an adminstrator. The entire ensemble exudes a lifelike nonchalance, with Chau terrific at navigating her character’s knowingly passive-aggressive relationship with Lizzy.—Screen International