Review of Certain Women (2016) by Lainie M — 03 Feb 2016

I'm all for realistic and understated but this film drains any sense of artistry from these stories leading to an almost comically mundane portrayal of mountain west characters. It is ambitious to tackle vignettes in a feature film format and to do so in a compelling way requires each to be self contained.

These three vignettes are shapeless blobs, simply littering the screen with tepid performances that struggle to find authenticity. This is certainly the new trend in indie films: omitting any sense of shape or artistry to attempt to portray real life.

I happen to believe that storytelling is more than just buying street cred through restraint and throwing random images on a screen without attempting to capture the imaginations of audience members. I am surprised by all the positive reviews as this was a snooze-fest at it's debut at Sundance where it received a lukewarm response at best.