Settlers traveling through the Oregon desert in 1845 find themselves stranded in harsh conditions.
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Writer: Jonathan Raymond
Stars: Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood and Paul Dano
Trailer: http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/meekscutoff/
The film wants a truer depiction of the Oregon trail experience, and expresses this truth through several stylistic and narrative avenues, including a predominantly female perspective (echoed by the aspect ratio that mirrors the bonnet perspective) and an emphasis on the personalities and distinct viewpoints of the settlers.
I've watched a lot of westerns and it didn't make me see westerns in a new light (I could see a present day Budd Boetticher making Meek's Cutoff, sure), but I did really enjoy its patience, grace, and something I want to call fragility.
Quote from: wilderesque on May 01, 2011, 02:34:15 AM
Out of the 9 person cast, I felt only Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood, and the Indian were characters really specifically drawn...for a movie without much conflict aside from the basic need for survival I thought that the vague family dynamics among the rest of the cast made the movie a little weak.
I'm not going to pretend for one second that I don't know what you're saying because I fully do, and I don't know how some directors attract intellectual deconstructions while others don't (as in why is what she leaves out is 'valid' but what others do 'bad filmmaking'?), but I do think that Reichardt purposely explores different ways of expressing characters and character revelation. There's a consistency that runs through her films that supports this.
Most dramatists use patterns and repetitions to engage the viewer, to generate dramatic currency, while Reichardt foregoes such schemes at the expense of immediate clarity, but she illuminates the entrances of the caves of her characters' souls without necessarily leading you in. It's frustrating, to an extent, agreed. But I think there's more to her than what's immediately apparent.
Well, for example I think a lot of Reichardt's personal views on self-identity are expressed through Shirley Henderson's (Glory White's) relationship with Neal Huff (William White), and her attitude on parental guidance by the way they interact with their son Tommy Nelson (Jimmy White). Their familial politics are much different than the Tetherows'. These aren't primary concerns in the narrative, which is as you say is about survival, but just as events after the film's final moment depend largely on your concept of the individual characters and their likely efficacy, the long-term prospects for other things like happiness in life and marriage are less obviously exposed by small gestures and intimate moments. The stuff's there.
Just saw this. Still not sure what to think.
Also not sure why wilderesque's posts are mysteriously gone from this thread.
I am sure about one thing. This is pretty great:
Meek's Cutoff's Mysterious Indian, Translated (http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2011/09/20/meek_s_cutoff_s_mysterious_indian_translated.html)
I've decided I don't like it. I totally see what they're trying to do, but it doesn't work for me.
I felt completely prepared for the film, but I guess I wasn't prepared for the dull cinematography and poor editing. This could have been beautiful or interesting, but it is neither.
It's not even grueling enough to be interesting. I got some sense of the difficulty of the journey and the characters being swallowed up by the landscape a little bit, but that's really all the film accomplishes, and it only does so to an extent. The real stories of Meek's Cutoff (which refers to his shortcut trail) are ten times more harrowing than this. In that sense, it administers a large dose of historical inaccuracy. I know it's probably not interested in that, but it's just one more thing the movie fails to accomplish.
I understand and forgive the sparseness (or nonexistence) of the characters, but there is no excuse for the acting. Michelle Williams is good, but not amazing. Bruce Greenwood as Meek is freaking horrible. His accent is even worse than Rick in The Walking Dead, and he doesn't even begin to embody the character. Unless he is supposed to be playing a half-comical Stephen Meek impostor of some kind, the performance is a complete failure.
Also, despite the director's feminist intentions, the actual film turns out to be tame and unprovocative and doesn't really deliver on those ideas. This could maybe pass for feminist criticism 60 years ago, but as it stands it doesn't have much of anything to say.