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.

An eco-thriller made by delicate and observant director Kelly Reichardt may have been a too unusual mix of genre and sensibility upon the film’s release. In retrospect, this haunting character study forgoes genre twists for simmering tension—emboldened by its astonishing cast led by Jesse Eisenberg.

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.

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.