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Many of the countless movies about artists are great. Few, though, as evocatively capture the day-to-day drudgery of a modest creative life — and the feelings of deep-seated insecurity and uncertainty that can nag even amid genuine praise from others — as Kelly Reichardt’s wonderful new movie “Showing Up” does.

“Showing Up” is a portrait of an artist hanging for dear life onto a creative spirit that rarely catches a break. There’s all the self-doubt; there are the life circumstances that seldom align to make art-making the untampered-with top priority. Rendered by Reichardt and frequent collaborator Jon Raymond, the portrait is of a Portland-based sculptor approaching middle age named Lizzy (Michelle Williams). The film opens a few days before she’s due to host her latest exhibit. She specializes in small clay figurines; usually they’re women in various states of either ecstatic or pained movement daubed with unpredictable color. 

Read the rest of the column on South Sound.