Certain Women (Kelly Reichardt)

[Sycophant]

CERTAIN WOMEN

Director: Kelly Reichardt

imdb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4468634/)

https://65.media.tumblr.com/3de70bda7cfe082214a5a395872601 54/tumblr_o70nvik2kR1tw3kfno2_128 0.jpg

[Sycophant]

Sorry, folks. There isn't a poster yet. Doesn't look like it has a release date yet, either, though IFC is distributing (I got to attend a screening at the University of Oregon with Reichardt and producer Neil Kopp in attendance). Here's hoping it actually makes it out this year. And that you see it when it does.

It's three stories set in Montana about "Certain Women," each based on a story by Maile Maloy. They're all strong, most especially the final one, in which Lily Gladstone (above) is a revelation. The first story with Laura Dern is probably the weakest and would have the most difficulty standing on its own, but its positioning makes sense, and the combined effect off of the film with all three stories sequenced as such, with a somewhat ineffable effect, prevents this from merely being a collection of short films set in the same place.

Reichardt makes a quiet but very tense study of the way people communicate or don't communicate with one another. I'm just beginning to dive into Reichardt's filmography, but across two films, I'm already very well taken with her careful observations of the multiple layers of inner and interpersonal meaning that drive her characters' actions and non-actions, which is brilliantly expressed in Christopher Blauvelt's careful compositions.

[Stay Puft]

CERTAIN WOMEN
Dir. Kelly Reichardt

http://i.imgur.com/tkjTFpg.jpg

IMDb page (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4468634/)

[Stay Puft]

My second favorite film from TIFF this year, and apparently just opened last weekend.

To echo pretty much every other reaction I've read, the middle chapter might be the weakest, and the third chapter is far and away the best. Kristen Stewart and Lily Gladstone are incredible, and the whole segment is just heartbreaking to watch. I don't know if it's my favorite Reichardt film (been a while since I saw her others, and haven't caught up with Night Moves yet) but it's a beautiful film for sure. Reichardt is becoming one of the best poets of American cinema. One thing I particularly love about her films is the way she uses animals and is able to incorporate them into the texture and rhythm of the whole piece, here specifically in the third chapter. The horse stables, the dog chasing the tractor, it all has such an immediate presence that I could live it and breathe it (maybe just a fancy way of saying that it feels so effortless and naturalistic that I grooved to it hard and never wanted it to end, even as the emotional familiarity of the unfolding drama was so painful that I also desperately wanted it to end).

It's also surprisingly funny. Laura Dern and Jared Harris are a lot of fun together, and Dern has my favorite line of the whole year, which elicited a huge reaction (i.e. lots of laughter) from my audience (Harris finishes second for his great closing line, more understated but no less amusing).

Also a bit distracting to see a Person of Interest actor immediately following that show's cancellation. James Le Gros is good in his role, no doubt, but that wound is still fresh yo.

[Peng]

Yeah, pretty much the same. Liked the first story, ambivalent on the second, but knocked out by the third. Seriously, that was beautiful. The final scene between Kristen Stewart and Lily Gladstone was so intensely moving, without an ounce of conventional drama, and Gladstone's face on the ride afterwards had me in tears. That might be my favorite performance of the year so far; it really feels like the essence of Reichardt's style of direction distilled wholly into a single performance.


(http://awardswatch.com/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=2737645)

[Sycophant]

Here's the post I made about it back in June, when I started my own thread in this forum (but let's keep this one open!). I'm glad this is out now.


Sorry, folks. There isn't a poster yet. Doesn't look like it has a release date yet, either, though IFC is distributing (I got to attend a screening at the University of Oregon with Reichardt and producer Neil Kopp in attendance). Here's hoping it actually makes it out this year. And that you see it when it does.

It's three stories set in Montana about "Certain Women," each based on a story by Maile Maloy. They're all strong, most especially the final one, in which Lily Gladstone (above) is a revelation. The first story with Laura Dern is probably the weakest and would have the most difficulty standing on its own, but its positioning makes sense, and the combined effect off of the film with all three stories sequenced as such, with a somewhat ineffable effect, prevents this from merely being a collection of short films set in the same place.

Reichardt makes a quiet but very tense study of the way people communicate or don't communicate with one another. I'm just beginning to dive into Reichardt's filmography, but across two films, I'm already very well taken with her careful observations of the multiple layers of inner and interpersonal meaning that drive her characters' actions and non-actions, which is brilliantly expressed in Christopher Blauvelt's careful compositions.

[Watashi]

The first two stories barely register a pulse and meander towards... something, I don't know. At least the third story has feeling and a resemblance of characters. I dig Reichardt's naturalistic views of isolation and frigid relationships. I just wish these loose tales of interconnected women connected more.

[ledfloyd]

I liked this a lot. It might be my favorite Reichardt. Such nuanced character studies.

[Pop Trash]

I'll echo the c/w and say that I thought the last story was the best and most affecting. Weird that there are still people out there who think Kristen Stewart can't act, considering she easily surpasses Laura Dern and Michelle Williams in this. The first story was good as well and I like the thematic linkage with the third one via rural law. I will say I didn't really get the second story w/ Michelle Williams. I mean, I got it, but I didn't really see what was so interesting or how it hooked in thematically with the other stories, aside from a surface level of being about a woman in Montana.

[Grouchy]

I mean, I got it, but I didn't really see what was so interesting or how it hooked in thematically with the other stories, aside from a surface level of being about a woman in Montana.
I don't know if there's much more of a link between the stories besides that one, though. They all come from short pieces by the same author. Oh, and also on a surface level, the husband of the Michelle Williams character is the one who has just had sex with Laura Dern in the first scene.

Another strike by Reichardt. The Dern/Harris acting showcase was excellent.

[Peng]

Got on the film's wavelength more this time (half a point upgrade) when it's not only the second Reichardt I ever saw after the atypical Night Moves, and when I detect a stronger throughline within the three stories, of four women on different social standings nevertheless struggling to achieve respect and acceptance (even one as relatively in power as Michelle Williams' character still gets deferred to her husband). And of course the third story, and Lily Gladstone in particular, are such exquisite heartbreakers; the moment when she drives through the tunnel at the end and the darkness briefly blacks out her utterly still expression of utmost subterranean yearning takes my breath away. 8/10

[Ezee E]

Oof. I'm happy that Reichardt takes an approach to Middle America without judging them or making a mockery out of people which is what I feel many other filmmakers do, but boy, there's a lot of dullness to this. It's mostly on Reichardt's direction which has never struck with me like it has for others. Meandering, rarely engrossing, and doesn't add up to much.... The actors give it their all, and it even succeeds sometimes with the likes of Laura Dern, Jared Harris, Kristen Stewart, and Lily Gladstone.

It took me four times to watch this all the way through.