Showing Up (2022) User Reviews

An Artist's Strife...

[Xstal · 7/10 · 9 July 2023]

There's a sculptor who has a glass and it's half empty, lives in a world full of despair that's just not carefree, no hot water in her tap, things are generally just crap, she is the epitome of gloom and misery. Then a pigeon pays a call and gets cat mauled, this leaves the artist most annoyed, slightly appalled, but she sends it on its way, it returns boxed up next day, a bird that's clearly been well trained, you'll be enthralled! (it's a talented bird) The mood continues to be more downbeat and muted, as the artist gets her pieces executed, familial issues do not please, as her brother eats the cheese, but that's the price you have to pay, when you're deep-rooted.

Wonderful performances and great dialogue, but not a lot else.

A Test of Patience

[evanston_dad · 5/10 · 18 July 2023]

I've been a fan of Kelly Reichardt's other movies, notably "Wendy and Lucy" and "First Cow," but this one left me cold.

Michelle Williams plays a sullen and mousy artist who walks around in a fog of frustration over not having enough time for her art because of the demands of other people. I can get on board with a slow burn that reveals bits and pieces of a character's inner life that finally coalesces into something like a whole. But that doesn't happen here. At the very end of the movie, there are some moments that I liked and finally made me start to understand some of the circumstances that contributed to Williams's character being the way she was. But then the movie just abruptly ended, and the pay off was not anywhere near recompense for the tediously slow and border line boring movie that led up to it.

There is a running storyline with an injured pigeon that results in obvious and over used symbolism.

Grade: C+

What I have learned : Eli's Review

[elisavbizau · 5/10 · 9 December 2023]

Are you an artist? Do you have impostor syndrome? Does it feel like everyone is getting on with their lives except you? Well, let me tell you: IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD.

This movie has taught me that in adulthood we accept one another as we are. Just like Jo accepted Lizzie.

This movie has taught me that things take time.

This movie embodies the weakness and fear inside all of us. The voice that doesn't speak up and piles up thoughts upon thoughts upon thoughts.

If anxiety and calm had a baby, it would be this movie.

I don't recommend watching this. Great performances from all the actors. But that's about it.

Slow.

[Blueghost · 18 April 2023]

So if you've ever been around artists or the art world you know that there isn't a whole lot of drama unless the artist in question has issues. There's a lot of "hurry up and wait" as artists paint, sculpt, shape or just cerate in some way shape or form.

And this film is all about "Showing Up".

Like I've said in other reviews, films, mostly American films, are about showing characters facing adversity, overcoming said adversity, and growing for it. Or becoming more whole people. American films are all about therapeutic sessions for the movie going masses. In other words this isn't plot driven, but character driven. And as much as I appreciate slow films, this one had me on the verge of walking out.

Part of the reason is that SF's Metreon Number 2 theatre is partially out of focus. But aside from that the film just plods along from one small character encounter to the other. Until the sum total sees the patient, that is main character, have a break out moment. Suddenly they're cured and all is well, except that damn projector is still showing a fuzzy image.;

I didn't hate the film, but the promo said that this film was a captivating and hilarious look at the artist's world. Well, I at least didn't pay full price for the film, and unlike the PRC remake of Hichiko the night before, this film had a larger audience. But there was nary a funny moment in it, and what we're seeing is the viewpoint of the artist as they create art for a self expression finale.

Watching someone paint, sculpt, write, shoot film even, is boring. It really is. A lot of the dynamic goes on inside the neural network of the human brain, a thing we can't see. All we see is the artist rendering the final creation. It is akin to watching paint dry. And that's kind of what this film feels like. Watching the artist dry her paint as she walks from one vignette to the next.

That's intentional, but it sure made it a chore to watch for those unprepared. I expected something far more traditional and actually funny, not some slow plodding well shot and static character examination as per a psychological study. And for that alone I felt like writing a hate filled review because of my hatred for behavioral science.

BHut, it is actually a kind of endearing film, and accomplishes its goal in the end. There's nothing flashy here, just a slow paced well meaning film looking at the everyday life of an artist who finally stands up for herself, her art, and life in the end.

an artist's little tribulations

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 9 June 2023]

Lizzy (Michelle Williams) is a sculptor working to set up her show. She works at a small art school run by her mother Jean (Maryann Plunkett). Her father Bill (Judd Hirsch) has a couple living at his house. His brother Sean is unstable. Her co-worker Eric (André 3000) is firing her works in the kiln. She has a love-hate relationship with her friend-landlord Jo (Hong Chau).

It's a minimalist portrait of an artistic life and her little everyday tribulations. It's not the most earth-shattering plot. It's a look inside a stressed-out woman's life. It's Michelle Williams being naturally compelling. Hong Chau delivers another great performance. The art school is very specific. It's not a movie that is so quirky that it's hilarious and it's not so dramatic that it's heart-wrenching. It's the simple drama of an artist.

Trying to Connect the Dots

[mainstreet-62539 · 6/10 · 22 April 2023]

That I guess was the goal here of this minimal-listic drama, not really any comedy here. A light moment here or there does not make it a comedy with me. With no clear hero or enemy in this film and character that are just tolerable but barely likeable. The narrative is not very strong nor is the writing. I understand what was going on in the film but the actors also did not make me feel anything, perhaps the only actor that moved me in any way was Judd Hirsch, who always delivers an amazing performance even though he didn't have much to do here. He always emotes and is a joy to watch. I noticed he was working again with co-star Michelle here which is sweet to see. When you have indie type filmmaking of this nature it is best formatted as a short; say 20- 30 minutes long. Then you really would have a real winner, I noticed in the credits that the director was also the editor. Very interesting and I like the indie style overall, lots of subtext.

Showing Up

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 6 March 2024]

Try as I might,I just don't get Michelle Williams' style of rather moody and laconic delivery. She just always underwhelms me, and here is no different. This time she is "Lizzy" whose cat has an altercation with a pigeon which she chucks out of the door only for it to be rescued by her neighbour/landlord "Jo" (Hong Chau). Now she seems much more concerned about this rat with wings than she does with her lodger's frustrating lack of hot water. Anyway, pretty soon the pair are sharing the task of helping it recover the use of it's wing whilst "Lizzy" gets to grips with a forthcoming exhibition of her sculptures. That's the first ten minutes, thereafter we head down a more familiar dramatic route with a bit of a (quite entertaining) disaster then some family baggage to be dealt with along the way. For me, the undoubted star of this overlong and slightly repetitive story is the bird. It appears much more savvy of the unfolding narrative and appreciative of the path it was going to undoubtedly take than either of the lead actors. It's decently put together this, but the whole thing seems to lack much point or purpose. It suffers from a distinct lack of realism or relevance and though it's never boring, it is pretty humourless and has little memorable enough to merit recommending a cinema viewing.

Vague, Meandering and Ultimately Inconsequential

[brentsbulletinboard · 2/10 · 12 February 2024]

When I come across a film that's the cinematic equivalent of witnessing the emperor's nakedness, I feel compelled to shout it from the rooftops, something I would readily do with regard to this latest comedy-drama from director Kelly Reichardt. This plodding, meandering, insular, minimalist, frequently inscrutable offering tells the "story" (if it can even be called that) of a Portland ceramic sculpture artist (Michelle Williams) struggling to create her works for an upcoming gallery show when faced with the distracting burdens of mundane domestic crises and incendiary but largely unexplained family issues. However, little happens here, and the narrative is more of a showcase for the movie's artwork than a vehicle with a definable plot, a problem further enhanced by a lack of any meaningful back story and solid character development (I guess that what they mean by "nuanced"). Indeed, one can tell when a release like this is truly in trouble when its most interesting and best defined characters are a housecat and an injured pigeon. The picture's feeble attempts at humor nearly always fall flat, too, most of which are drier than dust (there's subtle and then there's inconsequential). It really troubles me when I see a seriously undercooked production like this undeservedly becoming widely acclaimed with over-inflated accolades. I've found this also to be the case with many of this filmmaker's other works, but "Showing Up" represents a new low in her filmography. Not even the award-winning ensemble cast, with the likes of Williams, Hong Chau, Judd Hirsch, Amanda Plummer and Maryann Plunkett - the picture's only noteworthy asset - can save this one from its own inherent failings. Experimental cinema is one thing, but unfocused, pointless, stream of consciousness filmmaking is something else entirely.

showing up

[mossgrymk · 8/10 · 25 July 2023]

If for no other reason than its ability to do what Steven Spielberg could not, namely elicit a quiet, non hambone performance from Judd Hirsch, Kelly Reichardt's latest film should be commended. But there are other pleasures to be had in this tale of a frustrated artist in boho Portland, Oregon (by the way, Is there a non boho part of that city?), chief among them Michelle Williams' interpretation of the main character. I think we've all known a person like Lizzy, talented in their field but not talented enough to allay self doubt and envy of greater talents.(Think a kinder, gentler Llewyn Davis). It takes awhile for Lizzy's virtues to emerge but under Reichardt's sensitive direction and aided by her and co writer Jon Raymond's perceptive screenplay, Williams effectively peels away Lizzy's layers and lets you see the caring, sensitive person beneath the depressed, resentful person, so that by film's end we feel we know this good if extremely flawed individual. Wonderful character study which, again, leads me to muse on why this enormously gifted actor has yet to win an Oscar. Strongly supporting Williams are a number of actors with whom I was not familiar, especially Hong Chau as Lizzie's rival and bete noir, Maryann Plunkett as her checked out mom and John Magaro as her deranged, paranoid brother. Also worthy of mention is cinematographer Christopher Blauvelt who, like Williams, often works with Reichardt and whose camera beautifully but unobtrusively immerses us in the Rose City.

The film's main drawback is obvious and needn't be dwelt upon unduly. Reichardt's pacing, which will never be confused with that of Hawks or Bigelow, is at its most deliberate (read slow as hell) in this film. I can understand and sympathize with my IMDB colleagues annoyance with it. But if you can somehow adjust yourself to the director's contemplative, subdued rhythm you will be rewarded in the end, especially in the climactic scene at Lizzy's show where the tension, long held back, is palpable. More problematic for me than the slowness, actually, is the director's use of the too symbolic bird which, like most symbols in film and literature, I found both obvious and heavy handed.

Bottom line: Not as good as "Wendy And Lucy" or "Meeks Cutoff" (or even "Old Joy", for that matter) but well worth your time. Give it a B.

Cinema Omnivore - Showing Up (2022) 7.2/10

[lasttimeisaw · 7/10 · 19 June 2023]

"Through a wounded pigeon's capture and liberation, a time-worn metaphor, SHOWING UP drums into audience life's vicissitude and a philosophical Weltanschauung of balancing expectancy and acceptance of what life sets in store for you. What mostly fascinates Yours Truly is the film's depiction of Lizzy and Jo's relationship. Jo represents a more successful version of Lizzy, habitually takes her for granted but casually maintains a peaceful surface with her, and their rivalry never reaches the boiling point, the expected the-worm-will-turn moment never transpires, at the end of the day, a tacit reconciliation feels anticlimactic, but that's what others Reichardt from cinema sensationalists, art imitates life is the tenet she abides by, Jo's barking is worse than her bite, that is the case with most human beings."

-

a dud

[msalkin-46677 · 3/10 · 29 June 2023]

Reading the professional reviews for this film would normally reveal a modicum of truth but, instead, the reviewers convince us that they're making a silk purse out of a pig's ear.

I'll watch Michelle Williams in anything but why spend the money for her talents when any aspiring actor could frown her way through this dud?

Waiting for something - anything - meaningful to happen is a fool's errand. When waiting to see if a water heater finally arrived is a main focus of the film, I realized that I blundered into the wrong film.

In the final scene. Lizzy and Jo "walk off into the sunset". We couldn't hear them but I suspect that they were whispering "Thank god we're getting paid."

Showing up is enough

[smokemidi · 8/10 · 2 January 2024]

It took me a few weeks to digest this movie, which is profound considering how quiet and reserved it is. This film will resonate with creatives and dreamers alike; people who battle finding space and time to make their art amongst the seemingly mundane and frustrating daily activities.

As a former Portland resident (I lived a few blocks from Lizzy's house) I got nostalgic instantly. The pace of the movie feels indicative of a summer in transit.

I was sad to see so many negative reviews, which is partly why I felt the need to share my thoughts. There is beauty to this film which I hope people can find on a closer look.

Also, Andre 3000.

Has its moments

[fraser-simons · 6/10 · 23 March 2024]

Understated and sometimes interesting, but the lethargy in between the times it's coming together really detract from the overall film experience. I do like the actual message and symbolism and performances, though. Some laugh out loud moments and some true-to-life connective tissue between people being, maybe not inspirational, but positive. All across a few days of our MC having to make space for people while trying to engage with herself and her art, despite it all. It's a descent story and worth watching. I wish it had impacted me more; maybe it would be for people who are more into it (or are artists).

Going nowhere. Tedious from start till finish.

[imseeg · 4/10 · 8 June 2023]

This director is known for making arthouse pictures that arent targetted at a mass audience. These are the kind of small pictures filmcritics love to watch, but I cant get excited about.

The bad: this movie is literally going nowhere. We get to see the mondane and boring life of an artist. We get to see her take care of a pigeon. Talk to her landlady etc. It's just one contineous lame uneventful portrait.

More bad: I started watching it for Michelle Williams, who has starred in some excellent pictures in the past. She can act! And although the purpose of her acting performance is to portray an uneventful life of a mundane artist, her performance didnt entice me for one second.

Only suited for fans of this director's work. Others better pass this incredibly tedious movie by...

Godawful

[drednm · 12 June 2023]

I must have misread the piece in the NY Times about this film. But no. I went back and re-read it ..... "Lizzy - a sculptor played by a revelatory, notably de-glammed Michelle Williams." A film about "Making Art in All Its Everyday Glory."

Williams, one of the most overrated current-day "stars" plays a filthy, dysfunctional frump who is a sculptor. She works at some sort of artists' co-op/school where a bunch other grungy "artists" hang out. She's trying to finish up her collection of ugly glazed pottery women, which she assembles with Gorilla glue. She gets all upset when one of them gets overcooked in the kiln (which she doesn't even run herself). I have a friend who is a professional potter in New Mexico and no way in hell would he let someone else do the final kiln process of his pottery.

Her brother is nuts and is one of the nocturnal dirt people who digs holes in his yard as his art. Daddy (Judd Hirsch) is also nuts and lives on cheese. Williams' landlady (Hong Chau) is a string artist and she refuses to fix the boiler so Williams hasn't had hot water in weeks (this is why she smells). The mother (Maryann Plunkett) is the most normal of the main characters, which isn't saying much.

Into this dismal set of clowns comes a wounded pigeon which Williams carries around in a box. On the day of her big opening (art show) where she is forced to show her overbaked pottery, the pigeon up and flies away (the audience flew off long before). She exits the show and walks down the street. THE END.

The art is ugly, the characters are ugly, the story is nonexistent, the pacing is atrocious, the acting is abysmal. What's not to hate?

Pretty good

[elision10 · 7/10 · 24 December 2023]

First off, and obviously, if you don't like quiet, understated films where "nothing happens," this film is not for you. And if you do, and you're like me, some of these are so plotless and inert that they are indeed boring. But although nothing much of consequence happens, there is much to contemplate: the inability of some children of the middle classes to become fully functioning adults, the nature of the arts/crafts world, the absurd love that some show for almost any creature not a human being. For cynics like me who like who like to think all of the art world is humbug, and most artists talentless and simply don't want to be part of the traditional middle-class, there are artists creating beautiful pieces of work that can move us.

A Light Enjoyable Comedy

[lantern4444 · 7/10 · 31 March 2024]

This movie follows the small distractions and issues which hinders an artists preparations for an important art show. Despite her many frustrations she tries to go with the flow and prevent the situation overwhelming her.

I found the characters quite engaging with the interactions between them genuine in an easy going way. The movie also delves into the world of a busy art college. It show the many different art forms and the unique students engaged in numerous classes and projects. It also looks at the unique relationships within a family of successful artists. The movie also touches on mental illness and high expectations affecting potential geniuses.

This is a pleasant movie and a good change from other high intensity films. It is a great movie when you are in the mood for something light.

YEAH NOT FOR ME...!

[masonfisk · 6/10 · 8 February 2024]

Kelly Reichardt's (Old Joy/First Cow) latest from 2022 starring Reichardt's go to girl Oscar nominee Michelle Williams (after working on Wendy & Lucy & Meek's Cutoff w/her) in this tale of a frumpled art colony where Williams has to wrestle w/working on material (she's a sculptor of small figurines) for a new show while dealing w/her equally spacey landlord, Oscar nominee Hong Chau, to get the hot water running. As the muted drama continues we see the different members of this collective show off their wares or struggle to provide work for impending shows w/not much to show at film's end as it seems Reichardt may've fell in love w/this bohemian culture but didn't have an interesting story to tell (as opposed to Terry Zwigoff's 2006 off the wall adaptation of Daniel Clowes' Art House Confidential) which is a shame since for me Reichardt, a premiere regional director working out of the Pacific Northwest, has a solid track record w/her releases. Also starring Oscar nominee Judd Hirsch as Williams' dad & former Outkast member Andre 3000 (who's much derided flute music can be heard in the background) as a member of the collective.

Depressing

[happycap-67757 · 1/10 · 5 May 2023]

This movie depicts Artists as depressing people with no personalities who live like paupers. The "Art School" was like a commune from the 60's. The dysfunctional family added to the depressing view of artists in general.

This movie was sooooo ssslllloooowww that I started to fall asleep a few times. My husband kept waiting for it to be over. It was boring and depressing and the only good thing was the popcorn and candy we ate while waiting for it to end.

With the featured actor, Michelle Williams, I expected more... much more.

My advise is to choose a different movie or stay home and watch something on Netflix.

Art grad student struggles to be responsible and creative

[maurice_yacowar · 9/10 · 21 May 2023]

The last shot in this quiet, brilliant film is an implicit antithesis to the entire drama that precedes it. It's a bird's eye view of the two central grad student artists walking off together, about to disappear into the industrialized cityscape. The bird - which we hear but don't see - is the pigeon that was cripped by Lizzy's cat and saved first by Jo, then by Lizzy.

Caring for the bird became a bone of contention between them, though not as serious as Jo's failure to provide her tenant with hot water. The women's recovery of civility, community, friendliness, represents the healing power of Nature over its traditional antithesis, Art.

As the capital A suggests, the Art here is the enclosed artificial world of an art school's grad program. Writer/director Kelly Reichardt brilliantly catches the character and style of contemporary art schools. In this community there is a pervasive ritual of mutual support, cliches of appreciation. When a ceramic work is spoiled by a burn, the tech claims he prefers imperfections. More interesting, you see. The school bubble is sustained.

The film also catches the Moment of art style and form. Macrame is back. The looms loom large again. The students' openings anticipate the empty chat, posturing and cheese of The Real Art World. Their work is good enough but as typical as their low prospects for successful art careers. Their grad show opening may prove as good as they ever get.

The best art is heroine Lizzy's ceramic figures, which out of the kiln freeze the angst and frustration we see in her life. There she primarily suffers by being the only responsible character around. For Jo, seeking out the perfect tire for a tree swing is more important then getting her tenant hot water. Aren't artists supposed to be more sensitive, more responsible, than the cliche landlord?

And as several characters remark, why would anyone take a pigeon to a vet? In life they are foul pests. In art they are Nature, the superior force which humanity requires we serve even through Art.

Lizzy's parents have in effect abandoned their children, especially Lizzy's mentally afflicted brother. Her father is a retired potter who still spins fictional life successes and is exploited by a couple who pause their travels to live off him. They are the parasitic fossils of '60s Bohemianism. They come to the show for the wine and cheese.

When Lizzy's brother digs a pit in his back yard - Earth Art to express the mouths of Nature we don't listen to - his work is no more futile than the ostensibly advanced work of the students. Indeed his Outsider instinctive fervour emerges valourized when he takes the initiative of picking up the recovered pigeon and releasing it.

As Lizzy's exhibition opening proceeds we wonder which disaster will ruin her work. The gambolling children? The wild brother enraged he must control his cheese-eating? The father bumbling along? The insensitive Jo? No, all is saved when we remember the reality that our creativity can only emulate and serve. Nature wins out.

The title is of course as rich as the climactic closing shot. Showing up is what we do when we put up a show. But it's also our quintessential responsibility as artists and as human beings. Showing up, being responsible, saving what life we can.

Painfully pretentious, dreary, banal, dull, dirge drama

[danieljfarthing · 2/10 · 14 June 2023]

In pretentious, dreary, dirge drama "Showing Up" Michelle Williams is a dowdy, live alone, clay sculptor working (with the likes of Andre 3000 & her mum Maryann Plunkett) at a hippy-dippy artists' school from which her self-satified patronising landlady Hong Chau graduated to critical success (while Williams stalled in mundanity). Williams also btw keeps an eye on aging dad Judd Hirsch (himself a retired clay sculptor) & mentally ill brother John Magaro. Experienced co-writer (with Jonathan Raymond) / director Kelly Reichardt wallows in her banal drabness with a plodding pointless plot, deliberately grainy photography & sub-standard muffled sound. A painfully dull turd. Flush!

Evocative of the lives of artists

[bgvaughan · 9/10 · 25 March 2024]

In college, I had friends who were art students. The work they did had a very different way of expressing meaning than I was used to as an English major, always dealing with text and narrative. This film really brought back to me what it was like to be around them, to see what they were working on, with the usual material challenges in the background.

Ursula LeGuin, among other writers, has pointed out that there's a commonly expressed idea that stories are about conflict and that narrative structures such as the three act structure follow from it, but, many cultures have different forms of story. I'd been dubious about that, but it struck me that this film is a good illustration of a different sort of story. We're watching artists, one in particular, doing their work and living their lives, and we're often asked to simply watch closely what they're actually doing. Much as the sculptors I knew asked me to do.

This is boring in very interesting way:)))

[kobiovadia · 5/10 · 18 June 2023]

I mean, i can appreciate some aspects in this film, its telling how the artist try to avoid from showing up to the work he must do. And i can totally relate to it; when the artist needs to create art, he will start cleaning his house, calling his auntie lol, he will do anything to avoid doing. The artist needs to create art, but the world try to stop him from doin it.

But... this film... looks like the director did abything she can do to avoid from showing up to work herself. What a boring hell!!! The amount of yawning i had while watching it, yawning with tears of boredom. What a boring stuff!!!! Its almost funny, nothing happens, the protagonist taking care of bird that her cat damaged, most of the film is about taking care of this bird. And also she need hot water to shower, and she dont have, so she smells like truck driver's ass. The end. What a poor plot. Still- behind this nothingness, I can see what this movie is about.

Throwing Up!!

[lbenot · 1/10 · 5 May 2023]

THE FOLLOWING IS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: This film consists of an hour and 48 minutes of sloowww, non-stop, senseless stupidity. Zero plot, moronic-ly dysfunctional characters all, inane dialog, excruciatingly dull, robotic acting, ZERO entertainment value. No redeeming value, at any possible level, whatsoever, except to serve as a shoe-in for, "The Worst Film Ever Made." Got someone you really hate? Enthusiastically recommend this tripe to them, and hope they stay till the pathetic end. Should be evaluated as a forced-viewing alternative, and far less humane punishment, to waterboarding. Not worth the 600 character-length IMDB is forcing me to type to complete this review.

Skillful

[thebeachlife · 10/10 · 24 July 2023]

A sculptor is quite nervous because her show is on Monday and there's a lot of work to do, her boiler broke down so there's no hot water, her cat caught and injured a pigeon, her dad won't listen, her troubled brother's genius is appreciated more than her own work, which, in its subtlety, reflects her nervousness and fragility.

Kelly Reichardt, as well as unglamorous Michelle Williams, and the other actors, both humans and animals, manage to show us so clearly the smallest details of these vulnerable and introverted moments in the life of an artist. Every moment of this slowed down pace is a peek into the process of making art, somewhat elusive yet very real and full of color, full of life itself.

Apart from the cinematographic pleasure, one can enjoy here the artwork of Cynthia Lahti (sculpture), Ethan Rose (ambient music), and so many others. Subtle and so skillful.