Review of Meek's Cutoff (2011) by Joshua B — 29 Oct 2012

Meek's Cutoff is director Kelly Reichardt's third film in her "Oregon Trilogy," one that goes far back to the poineer era to tell the story of a wagon team being led across the mountains with the help of an unpredictable guide.

I use the term "story" loosely, for while Reichardt attempts to make the stakes of the film high by making the situations life or death, she fails to make any of the characters unique or interesting, and thus fails to create investment in any of these situations.

I found myself half hoping for the invitable death by dysentery just to be rid of them. Much of the critical praise for the film has been directed towards the performances of Bruce Greenwood and Michelle Williams, respectively the title guide and the leader of the team, and the visual poetry of the sparse landscape.

Instead, these two elements add to the excruciating experience of tedium, making the viewer feel cruelly trapped on the open plain with insufferable companions who lack personality. And the worst part is that all of it is intentional.

Consider the way Reichardt not so subtly hammers the viewer with the irritating sound of the constant turning of the wagon wheel. No doubt pretentious critics will hail these touches as a deliberate way to frustrate audience demands for narrative action.

They are indeed, but that does not give them resultant value. To mirror the numbing lack of direction in the film with the lack of direction of the film is not artistic genius, it's artistic masturbation.

Meek's Cutoff is a trek across a 104 minute wasteland that feels so much longer. It mercifully ends, with a fitting lack of resolution or reward.