#893: REICHARDT, Kelly: Certain Women (2016)

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REICHARDT, Kelly (United States)
Certain Women [2016]
Spine #893
Blu-ray


The expanses of the American West take center stage in this intimately observed triptych from Kelly Reichardt. Adapted from three short stories by Maile Meloy and unfolding in self-contained but interlocking episodes, Certain Women navigates the subtle shifts in personal desire and social expectation that unsettle the circumscribed lives of its characters: a lawyer (Laura Dern) forced to subdue a troubled client; a wife and mother (Michelle Williams) whose plans to construct her dream home reveal fissures in her marriage; and a night-school teacher (Kristen Stewart) who forms a tenuous bond with a lonely ranch hand (Lily Gladstone), whose longing for connection delivers an unexpected jolt of emotional immediacy. With unassuming craft, Reichardt captures the rhythm of daily life in small-town Montana through these fine-grained portraits of women trapped within the landscape's wide-open spaces.

107 minutes
Color
5.1 Surround
1:85:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2017
Director/Writers


Based on stories by Maile Meloy.
Kelly Reichardt was 52 when she wrote, directed, and edited Certain Women.

Other films by Reichardt in the Collection:

There is an image that appears twice in this magical, delicate film: that of a very light dusting of snow blowing across a sidewalk and a roadside. You have to keep your eyes open for both of them, as they last just a few seconds, but they are typical of Reichardt’s gorgeous imagery and visual storytelling.

Also noticeable are the Ozu and Bresson influence.

Ozu, in a long static shot with the camera low on the ground; Bresson with the almost unbearable attention to mundane detail, like “the rancher” at work with her horses (we never discover her name) played so quietly lovingly by Lily Gladstone.

This triptych of stories — told in series, but which have points of merger — involves certain Montana women (and men), whose stories are never as important as the viewer’s assessment of the interior monologue — which Reichardt tells through her patient and persistent camera lens.

Laura (Laura Dern) is a Workmans Comp lawyer, with an unhappy client (Jared Harris, delightfully askew here).

Gina (Michelle Williams), her husband, Ryan (James Le Gros) and moody teenage daughter (Sara Rodier) are looking to unburden an old man — Albert (René Auberjonois) — of his sandstone rocks (once a pioneer schoolhouse).

Gina sneaks cigarettes on her solitary runs (walks) … Ryan is sleeping with Laura … the rocks are merely props for the dreamy organic castle that Gina wants to create to fill the empty space of her life.

Gladstone’s character is infatuated with Elizabeth (Kristen Stewart) — a recent law school grad, trying to make ends meet by driving eight hours round-trip to teach a class in School Law.

There it is. Adapted from three short stories by Meloy, the film requires the viewer to surrender one’s eyes and ears (the score by Jeff Grace exists at only one point in the film — the rest is ambient sound) to the filmmaker’s talents.

Film Rating (0-60):

55

The Extras

 The Booklet

Twelve-page wraparound featuring an essay by critic Ella Taylor.

“Reichardt’s films are intense procedurals of the inner life, and her modus operandi is to allow unexpressed longings to hang quietly in the air so we can feel them too and watch what happens when her characters try to act on them. Often, their habitats speak louder than they do: Reichardt’s specialty is the transformation of landscape — whether cheerless wasteland or broody paradise — into a stage for journeys of the parched soul.”

Commentary

None.

Interview 1

Reichardt

Discussing her processes and the transformation from story to screen …
Interview 2

Executive Producer (and filmmaker) Todd Haynes

His love of Reichardt’s films and her ability to create such vivid characters …

Interview 3

Meloy

With a few excerpts from the written page, which seem to confirm the skill in which all these interior monologues were so beautifully transformed from page to image …
Trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

34

55 + 34 =

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