Wendy and Lucy

Okay, it's official: I do NOT understand "Art." In the past few weeks I have read nothing but raves for "Wendy and Lucy," a Best Picture and Best Actress award winner from the Toronto International Film Festival and a nominee for the upcoming Independent Spirit Award.

Wendy is played by the amazing Michelle Williams ("Me Without You" and "Brokeback Mountain") and Lucy is her dog (played by Lucy, the dog).

This is essentially a one-woman show and consists of Wendy walking around a bleak Portland, Oregon landscape looking for her dog Lucy, who is taken from a convenience store when Wendy is arrested for shoplifting. She has stopped in Portland for auto repairs while enroute to Alaska for a summer job.

I observed two things:

• The Portland animal control folks were far more humane than those in the recent PG-rated "Hotel for Dogs."
• By the final frame, one audience member was wiping her tears, while I was busy apologizing to my companion.

That pretty much covers it.