Dir: Kelly Reichardt
USA/2010/104 mins / PG
Print Source: Madman Entertainment
Web: meekscutoff.com/
Official selection: Venice Film Festival
Official selection: Toronto Film Festival
Producers Award: Independent Spirit Awards
Taking its cue from the pioneers’ westward journey, Meek’s Cutoff follows a group of settlers as they find themselves struggling in their journey across the dry plains of the Oregon desert. Director Reichardt (Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy) offers a powerful contemporary take on the western genre, meticulously teasing the tension from the narrative as events unfold.
The cast - including a brilliant Michelle Williams, Zoe Kazan and Bruce Greenwood - turn in rich performances, creating a perfectly realised, and very human, tale. With its emphasis on the vastness of the plains, the cinematography and art design catch the wonder and sublime fears of the settlers as they travel west.
Universally acclaimed, Meek’s Cutoff is further evidence of Kelly Reichardt’s unique cinematic vision and a welcome re-imagining of the western.
"Visually stunning and extraordnarily textured. A real movie-movie, with star performances and literal life-or-death stakes". The Village Voice