Sydney Film Festival 2016 - Film Review - Certain Women

Michelle Williams as Gina in Certain Women

Director Kelly Reinhardt's use of American landscapes and narratives of the road are once again on display with the three short interconnected stories of Certain Women deftly set within the stark,  wintry landscape of  Montana. Reinhardt is an skilled exponent of the use of concise, atmospheric storytelling which, when matched with the acting skills of Laura Dern, Kristen Stewart and Michelle Williams, brings deep emotion and meaning often with minimal dialogue required. 

Based on the short stories of Maile Meloy, the film commences with Attorney, Laura (Laura Dern)  managing a despondent, injured client (Jared Harris) who is trying to have his workers' compensation settlement reopened. The situation rapidly deteriorates into a hostage crisis which is peacefully resolved with Laura's assistance.  The second story revolves around Gina (Michelle Williams) who has her heart set on acquiring a pile of old sandstone blocks on an elderly neighbour's property for their new house which is under construction. Gina's husband is a nondescript, passive character who consistently fails to support his wife in managing their rebellious teenage daughter or acquiring the sandstone blocks. The third story focuses on a young ranch hand (Lily Gladstone) who forms an attachment to a young lawyer (Kristen Stewart) who comes to town each  week to teach an adult education legal course. The three stories are subtly interlinked but the viewer could easily miss where the connection occurs.

The three leads are well cast in the different generational points of the film - Laura Dern is a veteran in the film industry and effectively brings a world weary persona to the role of long suffering small town lawyer. Michelle Williams has gone from strength to strength as an actress and her representation as the quietly determined Gina is impressive while Kristen Stewart's plain, unadorned young lawyer is a good contrast to her period on the Twilight series. This is very much a female film focussed on the female characters but cannot be categorised as 'chick lit'.