Meek's Cutoff

  • 104'
  • United States
  • 2010

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This minimalist historic Western stays closer to Reichardt’s previous work than would first appear. Like Old Joy (which won a Tiger Award in 2006) and Wendy and Lucy (2008), Meek's Cutoff is an existential road movie with a major role for the Pacific Northwest landscape, in this case the Oregon desert.

The reckless mountain guide Stephen Meek got lost there in 1845 with a group of three pioneering families. Reichardt’s regular scriptwriter Jon Raymond based his work partly on the diaries of the women in the company. That female perspective is unusual in a Western, as is the calm narrative tempo, the narrow 1.37 format, the trance-like silence (accentuated by creaking wagons) and the focus on everyday tasks. The filmmakers do not deny that an allegorical parallel can be drawn with the Bush era. The colonists have to choose between their unreliable white leader and a Native American.

  • 104'
  • United States
  • 2010

Ready to watch this film?

Director
Kelly Reichardt
Country of production
United States
Year
2010
Festival Edition
IFFR 2011
Length
104'
Medium
35mm
Language
English
Producers
Anish Savjani, Neil Kopp, Elizabeth Cuthrell, David Urrutia
Production Companies
filmscience, Evenstar Films
Sales
Cinetic Media
Screenplay
Jon Raymond
Cinematography
Christopher Blauvelt
Editor
Kelly Reichardt
Production Design
David Doernberg
Sound Design
Leslie Shatz
Music
Jeff Grace
Cast
Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood
Director
Kelly Reichardt
Country of production
United States
Year
2010
Festival Edition
IFFR 2011
Length
104'
Medium
35mm
Language
English
Producers
Anish Savjani, Neil Kopp, Elizabeth Cuthrell, David Urrutia
Production Companies
filmscience, Evenstar Films
Sales
Cinetic Media
Screenplay
Jon Raymond
Cinematography
Christopher Blauvelt
Editor
Kelly Reichardt
Production Design
David Doernberg
Sound Design
Leslie Shatz
Music
Jeff Grace
Cast
Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood