Certain Women
I saw a tweet that said "Chicago! See Certain Women for free October 17th." And after making a joke in my head as if that meant literal certain women, I clicked, entered my email, and got an email a few days later that said I got free passes but to show up early to guarantee seating since they overbook these screenings. Class ended early, and I show up at 6:30 to find a 75 or so person line. We exchange typical conversations about "is this the line for Certain Women?" I put on my "in public nice guy" voice and have casual talk with an older couple about ratings for movies.
Now I'm in the theater, it's full of people who either really like someone in the cast, the director, or came as a date to their partner who does. I have only seen one other Kelly Reichardt movie, Night Moves, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, and Peter Sarsgaard. I liked it okay, but Certain Women sounded more like my thing. 3 of my favorite actresses in an expected to be subdued, quiet, meditative movie about women, and fuckin' A I got it.
We open on a shot of a distant train coming down the tracks in a mountain area. It's cold, nothing around. The credits methodically go through name by name as this train metaphorically sets expectations and sets our mood. Then we cut to a shot of the doorway to a bedroom & view that also shows the bathroom. A man is getting dressed in the bathroom, as a woman casually finds her things in bed. There's no noise but rustling of sheets and clothing. They each depart to their lives with minimal dialogue. But, little touches of character let you see who these people are. She lays watching him dress. She's just happy to see him. He's clearly conflicted and ready to leave, but not being mean or hasty. She rubs his back with her foot. I already know who she is and care about her. That sums up the first 5 minutes and also represents the movie as well as any opening scene could.
Certain Women is about 3 women's lives interconnecting ever so slightly in rural Montana, which might be redundant to say, and how they go through life day by day. Laura Dern plays a kind, lonely lawyer to a man suing for an on the job injury. It's the first story, and it felt like sedated Coen Brothers. Dry humor, long takes, and strongly written & acted characters.
Next is the mesmerizing Michelle Williams, who has a face made to slowly lose a smile, as a wife & mother to one daughter, camping where her husband is preparing to build her a house. There's an emotional distance between the family, but you can see where the love used to be. She visits an old man to ask for some sandstone he has on his property, and if he will sell it. This scene was so full of life and touched all the bases of interactions with aging people and conflicting self interest, versus kindness. It made me smile, and sad equally.
The 3rd woman is played by Lily Gladstone. Jamie, a farmhand who is taking care of the animals by herself, when she spots a woman teaching a late night law class in the local elementary school. She starts visiting the class, and going to eat with this teacher at the local diner, having simple conversations about their experiences. She develops a strong liking to the teacher, and depends on her class to give light to her lonely life. It's the saddest goddamn sequence I've seen in a fictional movie this year. I could've watched & squirmed at this slow burn series of unfortunate emotional events for another hour. But alas, I didn't get or have to, and it wraps up with a beautifully melancholy sigh.
This movie is good. It's not going to blow anyone away, and won't have you running to tell your friends, even though that's kind of what I'm doing right now. I doubt most of you will see it. It's limited release for a few weeks, and may never expand. But, if you want a movie to watch and you see this on your screen or at the theater, give it a shot. It's beautiful, realist to a fault, and devastatingly impossible-to-turn-away-from at times. I guess I talked a whole lot about a movie I just liked. But, that's the kind of movie it is. It makes you talk for it, because it's too busy looking at the world to actually say much.