Ben Oliver

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film

Certain Women

I can’t believe she found a guy in prison. I’m a guy in prison what’s wrong with me?
27 March 2024

Three stories about women (Laura Dern, Michelle Williams, Kristen Stewart, Lily Gladstone), lightly interwoven, set in Montana.

My pithy reviews cannot do justice to a series of stories that are so slight on paper, yet when in Kelly Reichardt’s hands so effective. Yes it’s ‘slow cinema’ but the way she edits a film is so natural that it all just flies by in a whirlwind.

The cold howling wind, the broad empty landscapes and the banal struggle of every day life make these stories feel like tales from a modern frontier. The Stewart/Gladstone chapter is where it hits hardest but I’m sure that the film wouldn’t feel complete without its other parts.

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