Review of Meek's Cutoff (2011) by Rob L — 12 Aug 2011

Perhaps the antidote to the John Wayne style western, Republicans will loathe this for its determination to tell the true story of the west, for its humanity, liberalism and feminism. It's a slow, elegiac movie that does nothing to glamorise the difficulties of the Oregon trail - or, in this case, a spur of it - the film's characters have gotten lost although they are near to their end point - the film is shot in the eponymous state.

Having excelled in Blue Valentine , Michelle Williams produces another stunner of a performance here and is fast becoming a modern day legend - let's hope she doesn't accept too many less high brow roles from now. Reichardt's refusal to speed up the action to suit those with short attention spans is admirable and the sparseness of the dialogue makes it all the more meaningful, even if it strays into mumblecore territory here and there.