terrible... so disappointed.

Did you people see the same film I saw?

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Which is both telling and sad. Telling because there's nothing in the movie of any substance or meaning. And sad because there is no plot. All that's left for the reviewer is to retell the scenes. I felt I was being trolled by the writer director by being forced to watch nothing until I had some kind of reaction. Like Freudian therapy where the therapist says nothing in an effort to upset the patient into a 'breakthrough. In any case you will watch and watch and watch and ultimately feel the experiment is you. Alternatively the movie is so indie that everyone is supposed to think it's genius, a new art form even, so that no one will ever mention that the emperor has no clothes. On a technical level there's no backing music, the sound of tinny and flat, if the lighting is natural then Montana gets less sun than Scotland. The camera work is good. At least there's no shaky cam. There's very little dialog but the interminable lengths of scenes isn't as irritating as you would think. They're just pointless.The acting is sturdy enough though all the cheering that this is a master class in acting is off. Laura Dern really is one dimensional. Michelle Williams really is one dimensional. Kirsten Stewart is the personification of bored robotic stoner 'drama'. All in all the movie is like an existentialist play where all the characters are dead and in hell but they don't know it, spending eternity in a dull dead entropic nothing where nothing happens

Not really sure what the writer/director is trying to say in this. Honestly, nothing really happened, and I felt weird about that. Only good part was the mountains.

My wife and I watched this on DVD from our public library. When it was over my wife just said "Slice of life stories."When I viewed the extras on the disk it became clear that the source work was based on or inspired by the author's life experiences as she grew into adulthood. As such they have not much, if any, back story. The movie just picks up at some significant point in their lives.Laura Dern is a lawyer, she has a stubborn client, for 8 months she has been telling him he has no recourse for a work-related injury but he persists. Then when they meet with a male attorney and he says the same thing the man says "OK". That segment was mostly a commentary on how women and men are perceived in the same profession.Michelle Williams wants to build her dream home on a plot of secluded land in Montana, we see her dealing with an older man for a pile of stone he doesn't seem to have any use for. Meanwhile there is tension in the family, it is as if she is overlooking the tension and hoping the new home will make everything nice. Of note, Williams actually grew up in Montana.My favorite of the three is Kristen Stewart as young lawyer Elizabeth Travis, who took a Tu &Th evening gig to teach "School Law" to educators in a continuing education program, without factoring in that it was a 4-hour drive each way and she had to be at work each day after. Teach until 9PM, get a bite to eat, get home at 2AM, get up at 7AM to dress for work. She meets a lonely young rancher lady who wanders into her class "because she saw people going in." But she seems to want to pursue a deeper relationship which makes Elizabeth uncomfortable. While we enjoyed the various stories I would not give this movie a very high rating because there isn't much there. It is very well made but seeing slices of lives of other people is marginally rewarding.

In rural / small-town Montana, three stories interact: a lawyer (Laura Dern) seems unable to set boundaries with an ex-client (Jared Harris) who is unhinged and deranged; a rather uptight woman (Michelle Williams) tries to find motivation in building a new home even though her husband and teenage daughter are growing more and more distant from her; a young rancher (Lily Gladstone) is infatuated with a recent law graduate (Kristen Stewart) who arrives in her town twice a week to teach an educational law night class."Certain Women" is written and directed by Kelly Reichardt and based on short stories by Maile Meloy. Like other Reichardt films (her best is "Meek's Cutoff" (2010)), this one tells so much in the unspoken word - where a silent reply says so much more than a bluntly worded statement. She is blessed with a superb cast who can make the viewer feel so much with a camera lingering on their faces.It's tempting to think "nothing is happening" at the beginning of each segment. But once viewers catch on to Reinhardt's unique style, they can see that a lot is actually happening. The Gladstone/Stewart story stands out for various reasons and not just the great acting (Gladstone rightly won many awards for her performance). It provides a great re-telling of the tragic story of someone having a crush on another who aspires to be (or already is) in a higher class in the socioeconomic hierarchy.Their story, like the others, have a theme of loneliness and isolation even for those who are surrounded by people. This film has a special and unique charm that is quite rewarding.