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Meek's Cutoff
Kelly Reichardt's impressive Meek's Cutoff is set in 1845 on the recently created Oregon Trail that took wagon trains through dangerous terrain to the remote Pacific Northwest. It resembles a number of recent westerns centring on women in the west in its realism, its rejection of traditional heroism and its avoidance of violent set pieces. It isn't the kind of movie hardcore western fans would wish to see every month. But it enlivens and illuminates a genre that once dominated the American cinema and still holds a considerable grip on our imagination.
The movie begins with three women in bonnets crossing a fast-flowing river, each carrying treasured possessions, one of them a caged canary. Meanwhile, their husbands are preparing their three ox-drawn wagons to cross the rivers. They've agreed to be guided to their destination via a shortcut by the eponymous guide, Stephen Meek (Bruce Greenwood). Meek looks just the man for the job. But he's a teller of tall tales, a bluff, a self-deceiving con man without a map or a plan, and it emerges that the men are considering killing him.
From the start, the film moves as slowly as the wagons themselves as they roll across the stony, arid land. There's an extraordinary long fade between two shots of the wagons, one in the foreground around noon, the other set some hours later as they drive along the horizon at dusk. At times, when crucial decisions have to be made, the men withdraw from the women to discuss matters with Meek. In the past are the settled places they've come from; ahead lie the pastures of heaven they're seeking; in the terrible present they await the imminent threat of Indian attacks or death by hunger.
When the Indian is captured it is the widower Solomon (Will Patton) and his young bride Emily (Michelle Williams) who intervene to protect him, while their frightened and suspicious companions, especially the xenophobic Meek, unite against this stranger. The pioneers collaborate on common tasks, they share thing with each other. But eventually it becomes apparent that it is the mysterious Indian, not Meek, who holds out some hope of deliverance.
The actors inhabit their roles with total conviction, and the picture creates its own sense of time and space. There are unforgettable moments: for instance, the youngest of the men slowly scratching the word "LOST" on a bleached piece of wood, or Emily suddenly looking up from her search for kindling to discover the Indian standing before her, her vision having been constricted by her bonnet. Meek's Cutoff is both realistic and allegorical, a tale of the real pain endured by the pioneers but also a fable about American history.
From a review by Philip French, The Observer
The movie begins with three women in bonnets crossing a fast-flowing river, each carrying treasured possessions, one of them a caged canary. Meanwhile, their husbands are preparing their three ox-drawn wagons to cross the rivers. They've agreed to be guided to their destination via a shortcut by the eponymous guide, Stephen Meek (Bruce Greenwood). Meek looks just the man for the job. But he's a teller of tall tales, a bluff, a self-deceiving con man without a map or a plan, and it emerges that the men are considering killing him.
From the start, the film moves as slowly as the wagons themselves as they roll across the stony, arid land. There's an extraordinary long fade between two shots of the wagons, one in the foreground around noon, the other set some hours later as they drive along the horizon at dusk. At times, when crucial decisions have to be made, the men withdraw from the women to discuss matters with Meek. In the past are the settled places they've come from; ahead lie the pastures of heaven they're seeking; in the terrible present they await the imminent threat of Indian attacks or death by hunger.
When the Indian is captured it is the widower Solomon (Will Patton) and his young bride Emily (Michelle Williams) who intervene to protect him, while their frightened and suspicious companions, especially the xenophobic Meek, unite against this stranger. The pioneers collaborate on common tasks, they share thing with each other. But eventually it becomes apparent that it is the mysterious Indian, not Meek, who holds out some hope of deliverance.
The actors inhabit their roles with total conviction, and the picture creates its own sense of time and space. There are unforgettable moments: for instance, the youngest of the men slowly scratching the word "LOST" on a bleached piece of wood, or Emily suddenly looking up from her search for kindling to discover the Indian standing before her, her vision having been constricted by her bonnet. Meek's Cutoff is both realistic and allegorical, a tale of the real pain endured by the pioneers but also a fable about American history.
From a review by Philip French, The Observer
2nd March 2012
Michelle Williams
Emily Tetherow
Bruce Greenwood
Meek, Stephen Meek
Will Patton
Solomon Tetherow
Zoe Kazan
Millie Gately
Paul Dano
Thomas Gately
Shirley Henderson
Glory White
Emily Tetherow
Bruce Greenwood
Meek, Stephen Meek
Will Patton
Solomon Tetherow
Zoe Kazan
Millie Gately
Paul Dano
Thomas Gately
Shirley Henderson
Glory White