“Certain Women”, what we talk about when we talk...

Certain Women 

One thing is for certain. I’ll try to watch every film that Kelly Reichardt’s direct. In a time and age of an epidemy of movie superheroes (OK, some of them might not be that bad) and hipster movies as shallow as a perfume ad, she’s a real, refreshing, major hope. Subtle, heartfelt, not pleasing in a Hollywodesque (yeah, I mean simplistic) or Drivesque way (yeah, I mean fake, artificial), yet absorbing and, what’s even more important, enduring. ‘Certain Women’ is another example of Reichardt’s fascinating and commanding talents.

Based on Maile Meloy’s short stories collection ‘Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It‘ (which I hope it arrives to Spain, so intrigued), the film carries us to Southern Montana’s isolated prairie towns to meet four women and her lives in a triple, sequenced storytelling, where the links between them are extremely accidental (well, there’s no connection whatsoever between the second and third story, to begin with), yet the final codas of each story assemble some sort of unified conclusion… that every viewer would have to find & decide by himself/herself. Take your time, don’t rush. Allow yourself for a little more than 90 minutes without looking to your mobile phone. I know you can. The rewards are awaiting you.

The triptych of stories that ‘Certain Women’ is begins with Laura (played by Laura Dern), a provincial lawyer dealing (maybe I should say stuck) with what it seems an affaire going nowhere (he’s a married guy) plus a deeply troubled, close to craziness, client (a building-site carpenter) who is desperate for some sort of emotional support at the same time he seeks for professional advice… in a case he has zero chance of winning. We have a pretty surREAL action scene (don’t look for heroes, everyone one here is all flesh and bones, happily) before we shift to the second story, but despite being the more dynamic of the trio, imo is also the weakest, with some scenes that seem too awkward to relate (the car conversation, for example) with.

But things only get better from now on. The second story (the connection with the previous one is revealed early) is the confirmation Reichardt’s could be the perfect choice to translate all the great stories of Bobbie Ann Mason, Lorrie Moore, Jean Stafford or, sure, Raymond Carver, into arresting films. Lead by Gina (played by the always amazing Michelle Williams, a regular on Reichardt’s filmography), here’s a quiet but poignant and crystal-clear tale of marriage and motherhood (a pure millennial teenage daughter) struggles. One in which trying to convince an elderly and neighbour to give (or sell) them a pile of original indigenous sandstone he has unused in his yard and that she wants to use for their new house, becomes an obsession and a factor for realizing the disaffection, the rupture she feels regarding her family, her hopes. The inability to communicate, the muted depression, the disconnection… the discontent. Terrific.

And then comes the third piece, which is simply majestic, about the connection (and the lack of it) between two women: a timid, good-spirited and solitary rancher (didn’t know Lily Gladstone before, but what a presence in front of the camera, what an eloquence with just a look, what an actress we have found) and Elizabeth (flawless performance by Kristen Stewart), a young education law night school teacher that has to drive for four hours back and forth to reach the town and her home. It might be the oldest love story ever-told, where one part doesn’t correspond the other, but it’s very hard for me to remember many movies in recent times where I have been moved so much. The final car drive, the dreamlike rhythm and colours. The intimacy that doesn’t need words. The conclusion… Masterpiece.

I understand ‘Certain Women’ might not be suitable for everyone due to its pace (could it be trimmed down some minutes? Sure, as every movie, right?) and Reichardt’s conscious refusal to offer the viewer a catharsis or that fundamental, dramatic key scene where everything falls to pieces or gets together. But aside from the aforementioned first story where overall satisfaction can be discussed, I found the film a bold, touching and disarming statement, full of little triumphs encapsulated in a murmur, a cigarette smoked into the wilderness, a desperate look into the horizon or an unhurried horse ride. What a brave filmmaker is Kelly Reichardt.

SCORE: 7/10

"Meek's Cutoff", feminine, conceptual, real western

Meek's Cutoff

I watched the film during the first Festival Internacional de Cinema d'Autor held in Barcelona (where it received the Public Award after the open balloting), because despite the movie has been premiered around the world.... but around the world excludes Spain (that doesn't have to do much with piracy, don't you think movie distributors and theaters? why are we forced to watch only commercial crap every single week?)

I was eager to see it because her director, Kelly Reichardt, is responsible of one of the most compelling and brilliant films I have ever seen (something that I couldn't watch on Spanish theaters either), "Wendy and Lucy". A film I can't praise enough.

Movie critics have defined "Meek's Cutoff" as a "feminist western". Is quite easy to see why, but that definition constrains a film that is, at least at the conceptual level, amazingly rich. A history lesson of the United States of America in less than 2 hours. And a lesson of commitment towards cinema as an instrument to say things, to make you think and not just to entertain you. The traditional (orthodox) western, at least to my understanding, was reductionist to the extreme. We had the stereotypical cowboy, always a white male, with supposed virtues like his loneliness and a propensity towards violence, transformed into a seek for justice (easy to see North-american foreign policy still confounds justice with vengeance). Overall, a simple dichotomy between the hero, the cowboy, and the Indian, the villain, creating the false grandeur of that period of history, the colonization of the States.

But instead, in this in transit, domestic western, Reichardt gives us a different perspective. Three couples, guided by a supposedly expert cowboy named Meek towards a promised land crossing the plains of Oregon. But the trip is exhausting, stark, harsh and emotionally draining. They get lost (how many times have you seen the hero getting lost on a western before?, and they desperately need water to survive. As the movie develops, the power on the group shifts towards an anonymous heroin (brilliantly performed by Michelle Williams again) clashing with Meek (traditional macho role) and because of their relationship with "the Other" (won't spoil the film), the other main element of the film, which is the personification of fear.

Reichardt's revisionist take on the western will stimulate more debate than the story itself. Intellectually, or artistically, is an outstanding film, challenging and rich despite, on the surface, simple story. But there are two major concerns that provokes the feeling "'Meek's Cutoff"' is missing something. One is not the slow pace -doesn't help either- but is related to it. In the decision of being as realistic as possible, there's a clear unrealistic fact (don't want to spoil anything) regarding "the Other", that although being said previously on the film, soon is forgotten in order to justify what comes -overlong- after. But even more relevant than that, is the heart of the movie, the most amazing thing on "Wendy and Lucy" that is lacking here. Doesn't compel you or grab you, there's no emotional connection with the characters and that kills the movie, in my opinion. It's the story of a small group trying to survive on extreme and desperate conditions, but the director prefers to win the battle of ideas than the battle of emotions in Meek's Cutoff.

A film of suggestion, conceptually brilliant and risky, but that demands too much from the spectator for the unsatisfactory reward it offers.

SCORE: 6,25/10