Arriving on the cusp of the Great Recession, Wendy and Lucy struck a nerve with its stylistically subdued but emotionally powerful look at how American society lets some of its citizens fall by the wayside. And in the title role, indie queen Michelle Williams earned every rave she got.

After the discretion of Wendy and Lucy Kelly Reichardt surprised us with her own take on the Western genre: intensely focused, fascinatingly observant, and loaded with portent. It continues Reichardt’s rich partnership with Michelle Williams, but it is Bruce Greenwood as Meek who steals the show.

Kelly Reichardt’s Montana anthology was a breakout moment for rising star Lily Gladstone. Shining next to a trifecta of illustrious talent—Laura Dern, Kristen Stewart, Michelle Williams—the quietly assured actor stole our hearts as a lovelorn rancher at the tailend of this profoundly moving film.

Before moving to Oregon, Kelly Reichardt made a fugitive film set in the Florida wetlands—more like the grungy filmmaking of Jim Jarmusch than her later slow cinema. Tailing wastrel lovers on the run, River of Grass shows she has been committed to America’s margins and outcasts from the very start.