The States of Kelly Reichardt

The director Kelly Reichardt was in a state of irritation at a screening of her eighth and latest feature film, “Showing Up.” Certain she had come to the theatre early, Reichardt had decided to kill time at a chain burger spot nearby. She was picking at fries when she realized that she had the time wrong. She rushed back to the theatre, arriving with no window left to run a sound check. Her film, a portrait of a sculptor beset by stress in the days leading up to an exhibition, was released into the world of the screening room sans her final stroke. “I think I made everyone uptight,” Reichardt recalled. “Because I was too nervous to show my friends my movie.” The screening was seamless if you were a member of the audience, a durational event if you were Kelly Reichardt. The director was her own seam.