'Showing Up' Review: Michelle Williams Leads Another Excellent, Intimate Character Portrait

Showing Up, the new film by director Kelly Reichardt, gets into the mind of an artist on the cusp of a significant breakthrough, despite whatever challenges life in 2023 America has to throw at her. That artist is Lizzy, played by Reichardt's go-to star, Michelle Williams. Showing Up, whose title invites the audience to participate in Lizzy's struggles, also features a strong supporting cast headlined by Hong Chau and Judd Hirsch.

The entire film takes place over several days, while Lizzy prepares for a solo show that could change her career as a sculptor. By day, she works as an administrative assistant at an Oregon college program, with her mother Jean (Maryann Plunkett) as her boss. Considering how difficult it is to focus on work while she still has to finish her sculptures, Lizzy decides to take a day off. It doesn't go well, thanks partly to her carefree neighbor, Jo (Chau), from whom she is also renting her apartment. We also need Lizzy's difficult brother Sean (John Magaro) and her father, Bill (Hirsch). All members of Lizzy's family are artists, each with their own peculiar personality that make life increasingly frustrating for her. 

Reichardt, who worked with Jon Raymond (Meek's Cutoff) again on the script, makes films with characters whose lives began long before the opening shot and will continue long after this movie is over. Williams plays Lizzy with that added weight. Her annoyance with others comes from years of dealing with people procrastinating when she just wants to get things done. Not many people can bring that out, while still adhering to Reichardt's style, like Williams. Reichardt's movies have never been about showy performances, but instead feature realistic portrayals of people we really could know. Williams and Reichardt are in sync at this point, after making four movies together since 2008. 

This is also a comedy, Reichardt-style. She's never made one before this, although there have been funny, human moments in her past work. Chau does a great job of bringing out the humor Raymond and Reichardt wrote, even as Reichardt's quiet, static camera seems a better fit for serious dramas. Andre Benjamin (a.k.a. OutKast's Andre 3000) is also perfectly cast as a kiln operator and provides the unique flute on the score. Magaro, who had the lead role in First Cow, steals a couple of scenes he's in. The supporting cast around Williams has their sense of humor dialed up just enough to keep it from feeling like we've left reality. Jo thrusting an injured pigeon onto Lizzy's plate, alongside her often annoying cat, represent as far into absurdity as Reichardt is willing to go.

Showing Up is a perfect movie for a moment in time when there are concerns about artificial intelligence taking over roles once held by creative humans. Lizzy isn't worried about AI specifically, she's just worried about making sure her art is seen and considered a value. She doubts her work, even when others tell her the sculptures are brilliant. Her brother is a great contrast, as he is clearly making art in his backyard without caring that no one but himself will see it. While he can be creatively fulfilled just by making something, Lizzy wants her work to be seen and appreciated as well. Reichardt allows us to see that both the painstaking creative process and watching others respond to her work are exhilarating to Lizzy.

So many feelings run through Williams' performance in Showing Up. The loneliness Lizzy feels while everyone around her succeeds is devastating thanks to what Williams does. She showed up, and so did her co-stars and director. The movie proves that there can be joy in showing up for the people in your life.