Meek's Cutoff

"I think this was written long before we got here"

Kelly Reichardt has created a creeping trawl of a film in which we watch three families traipsing across the Omaha Trail in search of riches and a new life.  This search is clearly not going well as we join them far enough into the journey for them to be questioning their guide, Stephen Meek (Bruce Greenwood).  In fact, as the film lingers on it becomes less about a search for the gold-filled promised land than a quietly desperate endeavour to find water, trust and humanity in these less than humane conditions.

There are many interesting elements to this film which can be taken as either praise-worthy or criticisms depending on the mood that takes you while watching.  For instance, the static camera-work, the lack of dialogue, any real drama, character development.  I think a lot of these are praise-worthy but unfortunately the coming together of these elements did not meld to form an engaging enough film for me.

The idea that I really got the most out of was that this wasn't a story put to screen but part of one.  That these characters are fully formed and without need of explanation thrilled me.  That they continue to travel without needing to 'grow' in front of our eyes excited me greatly.  This film is not so much a drama as a dip into the reality of the character's lives; very much warts and all.
This is where the lack of dialogue comes into play.  These people are trekking, they aren't chatting.  When they do, it is something that needs to be said.  Seeing the women walking alongside the wagons, their dresses blowing violently about them in the desert wind, working their fingers to the bone to clean and cook on the road and staying out of the 'men's business' is a slice of reality that seems hard to watch.  These people aren't here for our entertainment.  They're here to survive and they are going to try to do that the best way they can - by getting on with things.

The look of the film is striking.  A great deal of the footage focuses on the movement of the caravan; the camera remaining still as they walk slowly across the horizon.  The lengthy silences mean that you have to rely on the visuals for character information and plot details to emerge.  There are moments where you almost want to look away because the camera has been still with so little happening for so long.  Inevitably this is when the important things happen.  There is excellent use of real lighting and indeed utter darkness.  I think I saw William Patton's face clearly only once during the film.  His whispered, tense conversations with his wife (Michelle Williams) take place in such deep darkness that the dialogue was really brought to the fore.

Unfortunately not all of the characters are completely convincing which the film clearly relies upon due to dropping us into this episode of their lives.  Zoe Kazan's hysterical Millie and her husband (an unusually disappointing Paul Dano) seem slightly over the top.

A fine piece of art but not engaging enough as a film.  However, if I see a better, more fitting ending this year I will be very, very surprised (and very excited) - 7/10.