Livability

Currently showing at Cinema 21 is a relatively short film (80 minutes) by filmmaker Kelly Reichardt, "Wendy and Lucy." The film, shot in August 2007, stars Michelle Williams as Wendy, a young woman drifting through Oregon and Washington with her dog Lucy on their way to Alaska. The movie, a story of bad luck, hard times, and bad decisions, is garnering strong reviews. But did you know the movie is based on a short story by a local author? The movie is based on the story "Train Choir" from the collection entitled Livability, by Jon Raymond. Reichardt based an earlier film, "Old Joy," on another story in the collection. In these nine stories, pallid Northwesterners test the moral perimeters of their decent lives in a world of rapidly changing neighborhoods, rising financial pressures, and chance encounters shaped by distant forces. In "The Suckling Pig," set around preparations for a dinner party, the divorced middle-aged host hires two Mexican men for some yard work at his suburban house, then adds them to the guest list to spur on what turns out to be a transformative and class-blurring evening. In "Young Bodies," a 17-year-old Russian emigre sneaks into the store where she works to return the money she'd stolen, only to get locked in the mall for the night with an increasingly unsympathetic co-worker. Jon Raymond is the author of the novel The Half Life and an editor at Plazm magazine. It can be magical to see a wonderful short story turned into a riveting movie -- even more so if the story is based in our backyard -- so come grab this collection and then go see the movie!