Have you seen this movie about art theft? The art market? That super famous genius? Not this one, the other one.
Films about art promise a glimpse into the elitist and unwieldy world of creativity and commodity. As a rule, the artist is presented in a romantic light, detached from reality – either as a mysterious and triumphant anomaly, or as a version of an Orphan Annie who dreams of being torn from the doldrums of side gigs and venues. obscure. The film To show up (2023), directed by Kelly Reichardt, uniquely tells the story of an artist working away from any monetary or God complex goals. It is a meditation on observing as a skill, making as a habit, and the goal of simply maintaining both.
Lizzy (Michelle Williams) is an artist who works as a receptionist at an art school in Portland, Oregon. In fact, all the characters in the story are artists, from Lizzy’s father to her landlord, making the label creative a little less extraordinary than usual in the cinema. When Lizzy takes care of her ceramics practice, it’s an act caught between feeding her cat or watching over her brother. Making art is a routine.
To develop the characters, Reichardt and co-writer Jonathan Raymond observed artists from Black Mountain College and the Portland art scene, such as Cynthia Lahti, the original creator of Lizzy’s ceramics. To show up captures life in small art centers so well that it can almost look like a documentary – sweaty cubes of cheese and small children during an opening at the passing bow for a visiting art resident from New York to humorous comments, such as describing a ceramic pot as “spontaneous” or declaring “one must listen to what is not said”, which are both annoyingly performative and endearing.
The art school hums with the energy of weaving, painting, molding and dancing, which accentuates the stiffness with which Lizzy moves through the world. Her arms don’t swing when she walks, her shoulders are hunched, and her face is frozen in an expression. But in one beautiful scene, the frame hugs her tightly as she works on a female figure of air-dried gray clay. Lizzy quickly snaps the figure’s two right arms that clasp at her sides. “Sorry,” she said while bracing the rough elbows. New limbs are bent and stretched, posed to bear weight. Lizzy East its art, but unlike ceramics, it is not fragile. She may never quit her day job or pull any of the levers that we hope will ensure success, but she will never stop making art; it’s the only time we see his eyes light up and his attitude improve.
The film’s main tension revolves around whether Lizzy’s art takes her anywhere and whether everything will work out. Yet she doesn’t wonder why she’s an artist or where the effort will lead – the public does. The practice is the price.
To show up is in theaters nationwide.
