Meek's Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt, 2011)

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#1 Post by **Finch** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 2:56 pm

Reichardt's new film premiered at Venice and I'm intrigued by the Guardian's capsule review

Meek's Cutoff by Kelly Reichardt was an eerie and disturbing film, a western, of sorts, and a bleak one. It's a film which has something of The Searchers in its DNA, and could also be compared to Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood, and there are even sense-memories of the children's pioneer classic Little House on the Prairie, although in much grimmer form. In its severity and gloom it reminded me of something Gilbert Adair wrote about John Sayles's austere movie Limbo, that it was a sort of North American movie-making which had managed to expunge every smidgen of Hollywood glitz.

The setting is 1845, and three pioneering families are on the "Oregon trail", heading out to start new lives in the Pacific Northwest: a journey of unendurable grimness, with horses, steers and covered wagons and hardly enough food and water to survive. These hardy souls have evidently made the rash decision to leave the main group and strike out on their own, persuaded by a brash, smooth-talking guide and hustler called Meek, played by Bruce Greenwood, who has turned their heads with tales of rich pickings and fertile soil in a region he knows about.

The settlers are played by Zoe Kazan, Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Shirley Henderson and Will Patton. Soon they are hopelessly lost in a vast and terrifying landscape, which looks like the parched surface of an alien planet, and in which there is no more drinking water. Just when they are preparing to hang Meek for his incompetence and possible duplicity, the group succeed in capturing a Native American, played by Rod Rondeaux, who disturbs them with his enigmatic silence and by the dreadful possibility that he, and only he, can lead them safety – but only if they submit to his rule. It is a film of great tension, and almost Beckettian harshness on the barest of stages. The ending was something that divided audiences a little, but I look forward to returning to this fascinating, and tremendously well-made film when it is released here.

#2 Post by **Jeff** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 3:31 pm

I'm really looking forward to this one. There's not a distributor yet (though I wouldn't be surprised if it has one after Toronto), and it probably won't bow until 2011, unless they foresee an Oscar nomination for Williams.

Here's a four-star rave at In Contention:

Certainly, Malick would have been proud to conjure the rhapsodic visuals on display here, as cinematographer Christopher Blauvelt, often shooting in dusky half-light or lantern-lit darkness, scrutinizes the Oregon landscape with a keen eye worthy of the painter Andrew Wyeth; the dust-smeared pastel palette is gloriously counter-intuitive, as is Reichardt’s unusual decision to shoot these seemingly infinite vistas in the Academy ratio, making sky as looming a threat as earth...In Williams, Reichardt has found an actor capable of matching her contained integrity and opening it out to a broader audience; long may this partnership continue. Long, too, may Reichardt continue to inquiringly scope out the backyard of American indie film, applying her immaculate technical precision and near-accidentally feminist gaze to more distant milieux. Adventurous, ambiguous and truthful, “Meek’s Cutoff” may be a marvel in itself, but it only sets up greater expectations for the future.

More love at Variety:

Working on a richer and more intricate canvas than she's previously attempted, Kelly Reichardt has pulled off a rare thing with "Meek's Cutoff" -- a low-budget period Western with a bracing feminist spin. Re-creating a desolate stretch of the Oregon Trail with a meticulous sense of physical detail, this beautifully hand-crafted picture welds the indie helmer's subtle political concerns and eye for rugged American landscapes to a spare yet classically involving tale of a wayward wagon team. Despite significant marketing challenges (its title not least among them), this risky accomplishment deserves to command Reichardt's broadest audience yet...Williams, so heartbreaking in "Wendy and Lucy," anchors the ensemble with a performance of fierce grit and unflinching moral strength, staring down Meek and firing a rifle with the same bone-deep conviction. Greenwood's face is almost entirely hidden by a dark beard, but his gravelly voice is instantly recognizable, lending the cocksure Meek an undertow of menace. Fellow travelers Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan and Shirley Henderson have a more difficult time blending in with the milieu initially, while Rondeaux renders the Cayuse captive compellingly unreadable.

Had Robert Flaherty made a documentary on the Oregon Trail, it would look and feel much like "Meek's Cutoff," which lingers lovingly on the sights and sounds of a bowl being washed in a creek, or wagon wheels squeaking across the dry, cracked earth. Sound design is minutely detailed, dovetailing almost imperceptibly with Jeff Grace's muted score.
Reichardt's decision to shoot in the 1.33 aspect ratio enhances the docu-like feel and yields one majestic composition after another, the nearly square frame capturing the wide-openness of these harshly beautiful desert vistas...

Kellen · #3 Post by **Kellen** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 4:14 pm

I've enjoyed all of Kelly Reichardt's film so far, so its no shock that im excited about this one. After reading those little reviews there, malick-esque visuals and twbb dna have gotten me even more pumped up. I hope the film gets picked up quickly so I can check it out.

bkimball · #4 Post by **bkimball** » Tue Sep 07, 2010 2:41 am

Curious to know if the Academy ratio is an artistic choice or a budgetary choice. It shouldn't matter for the viewer unless the intent is to capture something unique to the ratio.

#5 Post by **Jeff** » Tue Sep 07, 2010 2:50 am

bkimball wrote:Curious to know if the Academy ratio is an artistic choice or a budgetary choice. It shouldn't matter for the viewer unless the intent is to capture something unique to the ratio.

Almost certainly artistic. It wouldn't cost any more to frame it for 1.85, since the mattes are just added during projection.

Grand Illusion · #6 Post by **Grand Illusion** » Tue Sep 07, 2010 9:41 am

Finally, an Oregon's Trail adaptation that does justice to the game.

#7 Post by **Jeff** » Tue Sep 07, 2010 1:00 pm

Grand Illusion wrote:Finally, an Oregon's Trail adaptation that does justice to the game.

I just hope that Reichardt has successfully replicated the Apple IIe color palette.

#8 Post by **Jeff** » Sat Sep 18, 2010 2:02 am

The film has been picked up Oscilloscope. It's opening commercially sometime next year.

rs98762001 · #9 Post by **rs98762001** » Sat Sep 18, 2010 5:12 am

From Mike D'Angelo's twitter:

Meek's Cutoff (Reichardt): 85. Or: GERRY ON THE PRAIRIE. Still processing. Saw ending coming about a minute in advance, walloped me anyway.

#10 Post by **Finch** » Fri Oct 08, 2010 5:18 pm

Kenji Fujishima from the House Next Door has seen the film at the NY Festival and his review is here.

On a formal level, Meek's Cutoff, the fourth feature from Kelly Reichardt, is admittedly some kind of masterpiece. (..) The results often feel as vividly realistic as moments in Terrence Malick's The New World. Meek's Cutoff is undeniably a fascinatingly idiosyncratic, aesthetically provocative, and occasionally enthralling vision, and as such cannot be easily dismissed. If I find myself less than completely overwhelmed by this film, however…well, to a certain extent, chalk it up to the film's ending, which only served to crystallize issues that I had throughout the film that, in the end, I find myself unable to easily slough off despite the film's visual and formal beauties. (...) What I missed from this film is a sense of a filmmaker willing to risk shaking up her audience in trying to locate the humanity in a culture other than our own; if we are all indeed the same deep down, then why bother actually trying to understand other cultures? The film's characters may spend their time in the film wandering through an unfamiliar landscape, but the film itself never evinces a similar willingness to probe and discover. For all its aesthetic boldness and tantalizing gestures toward historical revisionism, Meek's Cutoff ultimately stays resolutely, and disappointingly, safe and comfortable.

hearthesilence · #11 Post by **hearthesilence** » Sat Oct 09, 2010 5:35 pm

Saw it last night. Easily her best looking production - for the first 20 minutes or so, I thought she was going to craft a magnificent throwback to Murnau's silent masterpieces. About 2/3 in, it started to feel pretty thin...not quite a triumph, but it still has a lot to recommend.

bkimball wrote:Curious to know if the Academy ratio is an artistic choice or a budgetary choice. It shouldn't matter for the viewer unless the intent is to capture something unique to the ratio.

Dennis Lim asked this during the Q&A. Artistic choice - paraphrasing here, but they were trying to craft an anti-Western of sorts, and wanted to avoid "vistas."

Also, Reichardt joked that every time the script mentioned "so-and-so is suddenly surprised by the appearance of such-and-such," she thought, "how is that possible? I can see TWENTY MILES out in every direction!" In her view, the Academy ratio helped solve this problem, constricting the view/compositions.

#12 Post by **Finch** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 1:49 pm

Soda Pictures have picked the film up for British distribution and a release date's been set for 15 April.

Tom Hagen · #13 Post by **Tom Hagen** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 4:34 pm

Saw this last night at Sundance and it mostly lived up to some heady expectations from the Toronto and Venice reviews. There's a lot to like here for fans of Malick and Van Sant's work, with heavy doses of Sartre and Beckett for good measure. Beautifully shot for its limited trappings; the academy ratio works terrifically.

I'll be interested to see how this film performs. It was very good to excellent, but was nothing especially revelatory -- you got the idea that you had been in this territory before in better films. It has star (or at least recognizable character actor) wattage and an easy to market plot line, but relies heavily on alienation effects that may frustrate even patient audiences and critics.

#14 Post by **Finch** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 12:51 pm

Twitch has the poster and Apple the trailer. Both looking good - April can't come soon enough!

jorencain · #15 Post by **jorencain** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 2:01 pm

Finch wrote:Apple the trailer. Both looking good - April can't come soon enough!

All I kept thinking while watching the trailer was, "If you liked 'There Will be Blood,' you'll LOVE 'Meek's Cutoff!'"

And, I DID love TWBB, so I'm looking forward to this one.

Kellen · #16 Post by **Kellen** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 10:28 pm

Finch wrote:Twitch has the poster and Apple the trailer. Both looking good - April can't come soon enough!

Trailer looked great! My anticipation can't get any higher.

#17 Post by **mfunk9786** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 10:44 pm

A lovely trailer to be sure, but it didn't invoke the kind of emotion in me that I suppose I was expecting. I am really looking forward to the film, though - Wendy and Lucy was a true gem and Reichardt has become an essential filmmaker.

LQ · #18 Post by LQ » Wed Mar 02, 2011 4:06 pm

It opens at the Film Forum on April 8th; Kelly Reichardt will be in attendance at the 7:50 show on the 8th & 9th.
This is one of my most anticipated movies of the year, and the trailer only heightened my excitement. Can't. Wait.

Tom Hagen · #19 Post by **Tom Hagen** » Wed Mar 02, 2011 4:21 pm

Fair warning: this movie is not Days of Heaven or There Will Be Blood. It is successful on its own terms, but those early film festival raves posted at the beginning of this thread have a lot of hyperbole.

LQ · #20 Post by LQ » Wed Mar 02, 2011 4:28 pm

Tom Hagen wrote:Fair warning: this movie is not Days of Heaven or There Will Be Blood. It is successful on its own terms, but those early film festival raves posted at the beginning of this thread have a lot of hyperbole.

Don't be a Debbie Downer, Tom.

Warning well taken, but all the same: that trailer left me breathless.

perkizitore · #21 Post by **perkizitore** » Wed Mar 02, 2011 5:30 pm

There is screening and Q&A with Kelly at BFI Southbank in a week, so i will get back to you.

#22 Post by **swo17** » Wed Mar 02, 2011 5:39 pm

Just be aware that Kelly Reichardt will not speak in tongues or guess your weight to the ounce or announce her candidacy for president or anything. She'll probably just talk about her new film.

perkizitore · #23 Post by **perkizitore** » Wed Mar 02, 2011 5:44 pm

I guess i will be cancelling my ticket then

hearthesilence · #24 Post by **hearthesilence** » Wed Mar 02, 2011 6:03 pm

MEEK'S CUTOFF opens at Film Forum on Fri, April 8. Kelly Reichardt will appear in person at the 7:50 screenings on Apr 8 and 9. For tickets, go here:

http://boxoffice.printtixusa.com/filmfo ... 454&i=9943" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

#25 Post by **mfunk9786** » Wed Mar 02, 2011 6:07 pm

Wait, will this be at the Film Forum anytime soon?

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