Kelly Reichardt

CERTAIN WOMEN: not much happens in real life, either

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Laura Dern in CERTAIN WOMEN
Laura Dern in CERTAIN WOMEN

The talented and idiosyncratic filmmaker Kelly Reichardt’s Certain Women is another of her languorous observations of real people in the Northwest.  It’s a classic Slice Of Life movie, with three slices, actually.  Reichardt adapted the screenplay from short stories by Maile Meloy, and we have three barely interlocking tales of three women around the hamlet of Belfry, Montana.  There’s the lawyer (Laura Dern) struggling to make her brain addled client (Jared Harris) understand and accept that he has no adequate legal recourse for a work injury.  There’s a part-year resident (Michelle Williams) with a husband trying to reconnect with her and a very “teenage” teenager.  And there’s a horse handler (Lily Gladstone) who gets a crush on a night school teacher (Kristin Stewart).

Not much happens. None of the main characters is in a substantially different place at the end of the film, although Gladstone’s rancher has learned a lesson about attraction.  I’m going to blow right through my usual reticence about spoilers and tell you that Michelle Williams’ character gets her pile of rocks.

As a director, Reichardt is a brilliant observer, always picking up on the little awkward moments that are a part of life.  She’s the perfect filmmaker to show Gladstone’s horse tender walking through downtown Livingston, where she knows no one, at night and peering in windows at people dining and getting their hair cut.  Not only is there a solitary light bulb on a lonely character’s ceiling, but no one has finished the taped-and-mudded sheet rock around the bulb.

All three major actresses are very good.  The performances by Lily Gladstone, Jared Harris and Rene Auberjonois (as an old man having trouble staying focused) are especially indelible.

I was a huge fan of Reichardt’s Old Joy, less so of her western misfire Meek’s Cutoff, and I thought that her Wendy and Lucy is a masterpiece.   (BTW Certain Women is dedicated “For Lucy”, the dog in Wendy and Lucy.)  If you are a patient moviegoer and/or a fan of Reichardt’s, then you should see Certain Women.  But renting her Wendy and Lucy would be a better choice.

Meek’s Cutoff: when men don’t ask for directions

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Meek’s Cutoff is an unfortunate misfire by the excellent director Kelly Reichardt (Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy).   The masterpiece Picnic at Hanging Rock has already been made.  We didn’t need an indifferent covered wagon version.

The route of the Oregon Trail was not yet well established in 1845, so a covered wagon train hires a mountain man who claims that he has found a shortcut through the Cascades.  However, it becomes clear that the mountain man (Bruce Greenwood) is unreliable, and there is a new option of following an Indian of unknown motives.  We can’t even tell if the Indian is sane.  The men (Will Patton, Paul Dano) must figure out what to do while their wives (Michelle Williams, Shirley Henderson) eavesdrop and guess their fate.

There are possibilities there, but Reichardt hasn’t made much of a point by the time the movie ends.  We know that human decision making cannot guarantee survival in a harsh and unfamiliar environment, but that’s not enough of a payoff after tromping around bleak Eastern Oregon for two hours.

Oddly, Reichardt shot the movie in a 1.37:1 Academy screen ratio.  This looks especially boxy in a Western set in a vast, horizonless wilderness.

Movies: Best Bets for May

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You can see trailers and descriptions of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

Nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar, Incendies, releases widely May 6.  Upon their mother’s death, a young man and woman learn for the first time of their father and their brother and journey from Quebec to the Middle East to uncover family secrets.

Meek’s Cutoff is especially promising because it is directed by the excellent Kelly Reichardt (Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy).  The route of the Oregon Trail was not yet well established in 1845, so a covered wagon train hires a mountain man who claims that he has found a shortcut through the Cascades.  However, it becomes clear that the mountain man (Bruce Greenwood) is unreliable, and there is a new option of following an Indian of unknown motives.  The men (Will Patton, Paul Dano) must figure out what to do while their wives (Michelle Williams, Shirley Henderson) eavesdrop and guess their fate. Releasing widely on May 6.

And now for a lowbrow guilty pleasure on May 27:  The Hangover Part II.  The buddies return – this time losing a little brother on a wild night in Bangkok.

Here’s the trailer for Incendies: