Six settlers become lost on the Oregon Trail in the 1840s, and become increasingly desperate as their supplies run low in the Western Meek's Cutoff.
This is my first time seeing the work of director Kelly Reichardt, who has a number of her films on my watchlist. Her minimalist style is plainly evident in this stripped-back Western which accurately depicts what life would be like for these settlers. There's a great attention to detail in how the settlers go about completing everyday tasks so there's much to commend in that department.
That on its own however, is not enough to make a compelling narrative. For a story like this there should be plenty of conflict and drama to be mined from the settlers' increasing desperation from their situation, but the narrative is almost entirely devoid of incident. There are occasional conversations between the settlers and their guide (the titular Stephen Meek) where opposing viewpoints are aired but it all seems incredibly insubstantial.
It doesn't help with how contemplative the pacing is. It chugs along slowly, with the tension failing to increase as the story goes along.
I might have been able to forgive the lack of incident and the pacing if the characters we were following were intriguing in any way but they unfortunately weren't. Aside from Michelle Williams' Emily Tetherow and Bruce Greenwood's Meek, no character had any sort of personality or were fleshed out in any way. This really hindered my ability to be invested in anything that was going on and I failed to care what ended up happening to these characters.
At least the actual filmmaking is good though, as it captures the desolate landscape of the desert really well. The use of a 1:33 aspect ratio also held some weight, perfectly representing the tunnel vision of the settlers in their refusal to change their course.
On an acting level everyone did well with what they were given, even if I didn't find the dialogue particularly engaging. Again I come back to Williams and Greenwood giving good performances, which relied on their characters actually having a personality. If the other characters were given just a small trait to make them unique in the narrative we were given I might have argued everyone did a superb job. It's hard to commend them which such dry conversations they have to partake in.
This has made me rethink a little about my readiness to watch Reichardt's other films I had on my watchlist, such as First Cow, Certain Women and Night Moves. If they're all like Meek's Cutoff with a sparse narrative, boring characters and dry dialogue I'm worried I'll get precious little enjoyment out of them. Her films have always received critical praise though, so maybe there is something I'm not quite appreciating on a first watch.
Regardless, this film seems to mark itself as an experience rather than a straightforward narrative, which I could admire if I was able to be sucked into the world and characters, but that just wasn't the case.
Final Verdict
Whilst I can appreciate what Reichardt was trying to accomplish here, I was uninvested in most of the narrative and characters.
Comments