Certain Women

If the characters here are often sparing with their words, or even withholding, the visuals speak volumes.

As with all of Reichardt's films, the gems are in the smallest moments -- the half smiles, the non-reactions and the silences between two people barely connecting.

For the most part, these narratives lack the kind of tension between character and setting that have made Reichardt's quiet, modest, measured films so compelling.

Certain Women is a film where a missed opportunity to connect, or a brief, surprising flash of empathy, feels crucial enough to pore over days after seeing it.

"Certain Women" requires patience from the viewer and isn't for anyone, but it's a film of quiet and lingering beauty.

Beautifully filmed and performed - the opening sequence using mirrors and doorframes to fuse the torsos of two characters to form a whole - is stunning, but in the end, the overall concept left me in the dark.

Every masterfully-composed frame seethes with thoughts left unspoken but sentiments still made plain.

An intimate, expressive psychological exercise in examining the ebbs and flows of life on both a micro and macro level.

The three stories, which very loosely overlap, are handled in a minimalist yet subtly emotional manner and this calm, understated film is a delight.

Viewers who take the time to peer underneath the surface will find plenty of churning drama and resonance.

Not a movie filled with laughs, action or startling revelations but one that sticks in the memory and impresses with its subtlety.