Certain Women

With each new entry of candid and strikingly human cinema captured through the eyes of Kelly Reichardt, I am once again reminded of how much we take one of this century's greatest film artists for granted.

In Reichhardt's 2016 film "Certain Women," the filmmaker highlights the daily lives of various characters within the framework of the American West's sweeping (and, at times, overwhelming) landscapes. Adapted from three short stories by Maile Meloy, Reichardt structures the stories of four different women within three interlocking stories. It's a cinematic triptych that is intimate, thoughtful, and captured with a careful craft of vigorously empathetic curiosity often vacant in American film storytelling.

These are less characters and more like wholly-illustrated souls documented by Reichardt's masterful vision and realized through a quartet of sublime performances. We have a lawyer, played by Laura Dern, who struggles to deal with a disturbed client; a wife and mother (Michelle Williams) whose attempt to build a dream home for her family through the acquisition of a pile of rocks reveals the equally rocky tension that exists in her marriage; a night school teacher (Kristen Stewart) who forms a short-lived connection with a local ranch hand who longs for companionship and intimacy (Lily Gladstone, in the film's most striking performance).

Expertly framed within the expansive world that surrounds these four women, Reichardt forges a fifth major character through the landscapes themselves, where gorgeously composed cinematography by Christopher Blauvelt reveals the devastating scale of this overarching world in which we all play out our quotidian existence. And yet, despite this expansiveness, the smallness of our universe and the imperative quality of our connections, however inconsequential they may seem, hold true throughout the slyly interlocking storylines that weave their way into the film's narrative.

Newly available on Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection, this release features a new 2K digital transfer approved by both Reichardt and Blauvelt, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. Bonus features are minimal, yet great despite this scarcity.

Included are interviews with Reichardt, executive producer Todd Haynes, as well as the author of the original short stories, Maile Meloy. Included in the packaging is an essay by critic Ella Taylor.

"Certain Women"
Blu-ray
$31.96
https://www.criterion.com/films/29212-certain-women