Review of Certain Women (2016) by Fairbrother — 18 Jun 2017

This is a love it or hate it film. Very little happens here, and it happens slowly at that, so I'm sure that some viewers will simply tune out. But those who surrender to it's gentle rhythm might just be completely transported: I was. There's so little conventional plotting that it's redundant to try summing up the three short tales within. But bear in mind that these are, indeed, tales adapted from short stories. And the film preserves the best, enduring characteristics of a great short story: namely finding the universal through the specific, and rendering it as lightly as possible. Plotting - at least in the "oh no, what's gonna happen next?" sense - isn't the point. It's the MOOD that matters and, Sweet Jesus, does this film get it exactly right. Director Kelly Reicherdt's sense of place, and sense of pace, is exquisite. Her framing is unfussy but always evocative. And she has the uncanny knack for coaxing her actors to a place where they truly know their characters - we can feel that every person here has a whole life story, even though we only see fleeting fragments from it. The cast are all in fine form but special mention must be made of relative unknown Lily Gladstone, who gets some of the film's best moments, and wears them with a heartbreaking sincerity.

All told, it's as beautifully-judged a piece of cinema as anything I saw in 2016.