Noah Baumbach immortalizes the big spirit and small life of a lovably goofy and idealistic young woman, adrift and alone in N.Y. Shot with past-tense tenderness in evocative monochrome, a millennial spirit ignites this new classic, which was both led and co-written by a luminous Greta Gerwig.

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.