In Kelly Reichardt’s haltingly beautiful Certain Women, three seemingly disparate stories play out in Montana. The self-absorbed protagonists (and by that, I mean the central characters) of each story “struggle” with issues that are more-or-less inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Contrast the “hardships” of their lives with those of hard-working Native American Jamie, played so beguilingly by newcomer Lily Gladstone, and it’s difficult to feel much sympathy for them.

In my favorite of the three stories, Kristen Stewart’s character, Beth, is particularly devoid of empathy. She teaches a weekly evening law class in a rural school, which lonely Jamie sits in on, for the lack of anything more interesting to do. The two form a “friendship”, which consists mostly of Jamie listening adoringly to Beth telling her how awful her life is, and how much she hates making the long drive to teach the class. After Beth fails to turn up to teach her class, Jamie ekes out the time from her hard-scrabble farm routine, to drive the same distance to find her. A heartbreaking (mine) encounter ensues. Jamie: “I don’t mean to keep you from getting to work or anything… I just know if I didn’t start driving, I wasn’t going to see you again. Didn’t want that.”

Reichardt drills down keenly on the lack of connection these three contemporaries seem to have with the people around them, and fittingly, brings the three stories together in a way is neither connected or important.

Not for those with limited attention spans, admittedly… that’s one problem I don’t have. This is Indie cinema at its gorgeous best.

Another problem I don’t have?  An unappreciative MovieNight audience 🙂

More about this film on IMDb