6. Kelly Reichardt
Key Films: Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy, Meeks Cutoff Kelly Reichardts naturalistic and minimalistic approach to her films is able to get the most pathos out of her relatively simple stories. Reichardt never rushes to do anything and just allows her camera and her story flow like the wind. In her simple stories, she is able to get an emotional umph that is neither pandering nor artificial. She is a smart, deliberate filmmaker whose settings set the tone of her films. She surrounds herself with capable actors especially with her work with Michelle Williams, cementing Williams as one of our greatest actresses of this generation. Her first work with Williams was in Wendy and Lucy which on the surface was about a woman looking for her dog in Portland, Oregon. But, Reichardt makes films like a blues singer making music. Everything is stripped down to its raw emotion both filmmaking wise and story wise. The results is a carefully, precise film of passion wrapped in an 80 minute narrative. This was repeated in her follow-up, Meeks Cutoff. A revisionist western, Meeks Cutoff is a paradox in that it is a minimalistic disaster film. The story of a group of people trekking the harsh lands to the west is substantiated with limited to no music at all, heightening the tension of impending doom. Some might dismiss her films of being slow and tedious, but it is all done with a purpose. Reichardt is a smart filmmaker whose every decision is done precisely to get the maximum effect. She will never be embraced by a mainstream audience but if someone is able to stay with her work, it is infinitely rewarding.