Kelly Reichardt, the director behind such indie favorites as Wendy and Lucy and Meek’s Cutoff, is back with another seemingly lovely, glacially paced character study. The new film Certain Women is the latest critically acclaimed, defiantly noncommercial addition to her filmography—albeit one with a unique selling point: a standout performance from Kristen Stewart.
While co-stars Laura Dern and Michelle Williams were warmly received out of the film’s premiere at Sundance, Stewart generated raves for her turn as a young lawyer exploring a close new friendship. Certain Women plays like a trio of short stories set in the Pacific Northwest, each centered on a woman at a quiet but potentially explosive point in her life. The film, which features the director’s trademark attention to detail, should certainly appeal to Reichardt diehards. But with bigger names like Stewart and Williams in tow, perhaps it can find the broader audience that Reichardt’s films have long deserved. Certain Women is slated for an Oct. 14 release.
