Review of Meek's Cutoff (2011) by Dan M — 02 Jan 2012

Meekâ??s Cutoff feels like one of those movies that is about nothing. And itâ??s really hard to like a movie that seems like a huge waste of time.

The overall acting from Bruce Springwood and Michelle Williams is subtle. Thereâ??s also Paul Dano, best known as Eli Sunday the preacher from There Will be Blood. The thing about the actors is the audibility of the sounds because most of the dialogue is hard to hear, either if the actors have a problem enunciating or mightâ??ve had something to do with the microphones, I donâ??t know.

I do have to give props to the filmâ??s cinematography, which has a deep sense of reclusiveness and distress that the characters may face or are already dealing with. The cinematography is the star aspect because the movie relies very much on image narration to state their lifestyle traveling through Oregon, rather than using spoken dialogue.

Directed by Kelly Reichardt, and this the first film of hers that Iâ??ve watched, so Iâ??m not sure if all of her other work those similar styles of story telling. Reichardtâ??s main objective was to try and put us, the viewers, into the shoes of the pioneers.

But watching through Meekâ??s Cutoff, it doesnâ??t have much to support the movie. The conflict was short-lived, hardly any character development was shown and there wasnâ??t any effective plot twists that would break out of their repetitive journey. All that really happen is the group of wanderers find a native and takes captivity of him, a wagon gets destroyed and they start pointing guns at each other. Those are the only highlights of the movie. It also ends abruptly, without a better resolution or clear idea of these characters fates. So, overall, Meekâ??s Cutoff isnâ??t a bad movie, but it is hard to get into and wouldnâ??t know who to recommend it to.