Wendy and Lucy

Simple story, beautifully told. A distressed dropout named Wendy (the sublime Michelle Williams) and her dog Lucy hop in her beat-up Honda and leave Indiana for Alaska, Wendy's cautious hope for a new frontier. But when the car dies in Oregon and Lucy goes missing, Wendy faces hard choices and a hard-pressed America that keeps closing doors. I won't say more, except that director and co-writer Kelly Reichardt (Old Joy) is a true cinema poet who works miracles in miniature. And she finds the perfect collaborator in Williams, an actress of grit and amazing grace.