Review of Certain Women (2016) by Laura F — 03 Dec 2016

Certain women are very uninteresting, and much like those certain women, "Certain Women" is very uninteresting. This was my introduction to Kelly Reichardt's cinematic offerings, and the nicest thing I could say is that she knows where to point a camera.

Besides a fine, but completely unremarkable performance from Laura Dern and the photography being good, that will be the extent of my congratulations. To say that this film is boring would be an understatement and a bit of an insult to boringness itself.

Boring can be good. Boring gives us time to meditate on concepts, to relish the visuals, and to anticipate action and emotion. But this film never has any sort of payoff, and it doesn't even seem to be all that concerned with it's own concept.

Women quietly struggle on a day to day basis, especially in rural settings, to attain legitimacy or acceptance, and the tiniest glimmer of hope or assurance can make it all worthwhile. But this movie might be the most bland, wan film I've seen this year, and doubly so because it hardly focuses on that cornerstone of a concept.

If the script had been longer than 6 pages, and if they would have replaced the horse feeding sequences that take up a third of the movie with, I don't know, some dialogue or a plot, it might have turned out better.

The characters hardly interact with each other, and if the half-hearted attempt to tie what are essentially vignettes centered around Dern, Michelle Williams, and Lily Gladstone together had any purpose other than "They live in Montana", maybe this would have some deeper purpose or meaning.

But no, all we see is that women have a difficult time, and they are sad or resigned about it. If you are a certain person, the kind that likes things to happen in their movies, you will certainly not like this film.