Meek's Cutoff (2010)
Genre: Western / Drama
Duration: 104 minuten
Alternative title: Meek's Oregon 1845 Cutoff
Country:
United States
Directed by: Kelly Reichardt
Stars: Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood and Will Patton
IMDb score:
6,5 (16.261)
Releasedate: 5 September 2010
Meek's Cutoff plot
"The Road to Civilisation is Not Always Civilised."
In the year 1845, in the early days of the Oregon Trail (3400 km route used by American pioneers in the early 1800s), a group of three families enlists mountaineer Stephen Meek to lead them across the Cascade Mountains. Guides. Meek claims to know a shortcut and leads the group along an unfamiliar road across the desert plateau, eventually getting lost in the dry rocky wasteland. In the coming days, the emigrants will be plagued by hunger, thirst and their lack of faith in each other's survival instincts. When they encounter an Indian, the group must choose between an untrustworthy guide and a man who has always been their natural enemy.
Actors and actresses
Emily Tetherow
Stephen Meek
Soloman Tetherow
Millie Gately
Thomas Gately
Glory White
William White
Jimmy White
The Indian
Reviews & comments
wibro
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- 11590 messages
- 4098 votes
This film demands a lot of patience from the viewer. Not much actually happened, but after a while I became fascinated by this western where there was nothing to be found of the classic shooting western. Fortunately, because this seems to me to be the way it was all the more for the better. The film also had a special atmosphere, beautiful images and nothing was revealed about how it would end. Well. fill it in yourself, the makers seem to say. I like it. Beautiful play especially from Michelle Williams in the role of Emily.
3.5*
Translated from Dutch · View original
Sergio Leone
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- 4430 messages
- 3110 votes
Good.
Sometimes I am amazed at how the western genre evolves. The quantity is no longer high, but I am often positively surprised about the quality. A lot of good westerns have been made in the last 10, 15 years, often also westerns with a different angle: some more romanticized than others.
Meek's Cutoff is one of those that strips the genre down. We get to see no gunslingers, no sweaty character heads in close-up, no shoot-outs and no bombastic soundtrack full of trumpet sounds. Meek's Cutoff is nihilistic. For over an hour and a half they try to show what it might have been like: desolate, monotonous, maybe even hopeless. After all, the film follows a lost group of pioneers. The choice to join in on the journey, and to leave it there afterwards, without reaching a destination is great. It makes for an ambiguous ending that couldn't be more moody than with that fantastic final shot.
3.5
Translated from Dutch · View original
mrklm
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- 11629 messages
- 10041 votes
Oregeon, 1845. A small caravan heads west led by Stephen Meek [Bruce Greenwood], who claims to know a shortcut across the Cascade Mountains. Emily Tetherow [Michelle Williams] thinks he's just a blowtorch and the men catch an Indian [Rod Rondeaux] who has to help them find water, she's the only one showing compassion. It is the starting point for a shift in the relations between the men and the women in the caravan. Tensions and the relationship between men and women are changing. It's a bit ironic that a western with a clear feminist slant is written by a man, which may explain why the story is fairly faithful to the formula of many smaller (and often better) westerns from the 50s. Reichardt guards the female perspective with the help of the ever-reliable Williams, but the result isn't exactly groundbreaking.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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