Tropic Sprockets / Certain Women

By Ian Brockway

Director Kelly Reichardt (Wendy and Lucy) is a master of understatement. Her latest “Certain Women” contains all the depth of an engaging selection of short stories. This is no accident, for the film is based on the short fiction of author Maile Meloy.

In the first segment, lawyer Laura Wells (Laura Dern) deals with an embittered man named Fuller (Jared Harris) who wishes to press a lawsuit, in spite of having exhausted all of his legal options. Fuller endured a debilitating workplace accident that impaired his vision and concentration, making him unable to work. Unfortunately, he took a quick settlement which did not cover medical expenses.

Desperate, Fuller decides to take a hostage at gunpoint.

In the second story, a bohemian couple (Michelle Williams and James Le Gros) attempts to manipulate an elderly neighbor Albert (Rene Auberjonois) into selling them some cherished natural stones so that the two can build a house that is the envy of all.

And in the last, a solitary ranch hand (Lily Gladstone) develops an infatuation with Beth (Kristen Stewart) a small town lawyer.

These stories unfold like life itself often does. There are winners, by degrees, and losers. Each story evokes impactful feelings much like the best of literature, and there are no easy answers.  In every segment too, the landscape of Montana is omnipresent. The mountains are either malevolent or marvelous and they invariably loom in the background, regardless of the outcome. As in the work of Raymond Carver, the  characters are loners who experience surprises both startling and subtle.

The tales are decidedly ambiguous and eerie. One may be apprehensive or unsatified in watching these meditations of human behavior, yet “Certain Women” succeeds so well precisely because it leaves situations open-ended and messy well after the film leaves you.

Kelly Reichardt is to be commended as an outlier in this age of hyperactive cinema. As director, she refuses to force-feed. Here, in watching each chapter, we are refreshingly encouraged to think and actively wonder.

Write Ian at [email protected]

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