Movie Review - Meek's Cutoff

Meek's Cutoff (2011)

Starring Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood, Will Patton, and Paul Dano

Directed by Kelly Reichardt

As a self-professed hater of westerns, no one is more surprised than me to be quite taken with Meek's Cutoff, a tale of a group of settlers traveling across Oregon in 1845.  On the surface, Kelly Reichardt's flick may appear to be one of the slowest paced films you'll ever watch, but if you dig deep, you'll find that you're witnessing a horror story realistically portraying the struggles facing American pioneers.  Ever growing in tension as the tale of our settlers' search for water grows increasingly more perilous, Meek's Cutoff turns into an edge-of-your-seat nailbiter unlike any film I've ever seen simply because it achieves this uneasiness by plunging the viewers into the utterly monotonous world of the settlers who begin to question whether their trek is a worthy one.  It's an odd flick, but one that is rather ingenious in the way it tells its tale.

Key to the film's success is a cast of only nine actors who, for the most part, prove to be quite adept at showcasing the desperation of American settlers.  The film's poster places the focus squarely on Michelle Williams and while it could certainly be said that she is the main character, her role as the headstrong (although never too "modern" in manner to seem out of place in the 1840s) Emily Tetherow never gives the film an overtly feminist tone that I thought I was going to see based on previews.  Emily is still a woman who "obeys" her new husband, Solomon (a solemn and subdued Will Patton), but isn't afraid to express her views on how to find a watering hole.

It is her views on that very subject that are the impetus behind the flick's overarching predicament.  Does the group of seven settlers follow their rugged and cocky guide Meek (a brilliantly offbeat Bruce Greenwood) who boasts about his abilities but has yet to really showcase his brilliance or the spiritual Native American (Ron Rondeaux) that they have captured whom they can't understand and may simply be leading them to their demise?  Emily has her own thoughts on which man to follow and, needless to say, the group doesn't entirely agree with her.

The film looks stunning (great work from cinematographer Christopher Blauvelt).  The first ten minutes are nearly dialog-free shots of our group of settlers living off of the land and traveling through the arid landscapes of the American Northwest.  However, at the beginning of the film, director Kelly Reichardt often sets her camera outside of group conversations so that unless we turn the volume up full tilt, we're really unable to hear what's going on.  After having seen the film, I now completely comprehend that in these scenes, we the viewers are supposed to be like the women traveling in the group, only able to hear bits and pieces of the conversations of the men...but it just irked me more than anything else.  As the film progresses and Emily becomes a bit more forceful in having her opinions be heard, the viewers begin to hear all the goings-on and these sound issues become much less frequent.

I know full well that many will watch Meek's Cutoff and think it is one of the most boring films they've ever seen (that's assuming they even make it through the first thirty minutes).  They may scream, "Nothing happens!" and, on the surface, I wouldn't be able to disagree with them.  [And I should readily admit that there were moments towards the very beginning where I was doubtful I would make it through this one.]  To me, though, I find it to be a great (and probably as realistic as you're going to get) glimpse at the life of a roving American settler in the mid 1800s.  It's in this reality that the tension mounts and, like life itself, things aren't always tied up in a neat little bow in the end.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+