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.

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.

Coming of age meets rape revenge in Jim McKay’s grounded debut, in which the pursuit of justice demands thorny empowerment. Developed through improvisation with its three young leads, and soundtracked by legendary MC Guru, Girls Town is a vital snapshot of ’90s New York.