— Help Wanted — Wendy and Lucy (Kelly Reichardt) By Patrick McEvoy-Halston May 2009 With “Wendy and Lucy” involving one proud woman traveling through rugged or decrepit surroundings, hoping to work her way to the one place available which might just hold promise of a secure life, and perhaps fulfillment (i.e., Alaska), the film could be deemed post-apocalyptic. But in films of this genre, where civilization wears and wolves encroach, setting serves to highlight and facilitate/necessitate heroic action from the main protagonist, and overall register a strong sense that this is the only appropriate backdrop for manly, independent living—the one gigantic thing civilization cannot offer because it ostensibly comes at the expense of. The film works the other way around, where adults born when American society felt assured, prove still worth seeking out, for they may be, if not the only—certainly the best source available to help orient you to take on a more sub...