Meek’s Cutoff

From director Kelly Reichardt comes MEEK'S CUTOFF, a new kind of Western that replaces the gun-slinging cowboy duels with the bleak reality and incredible solitude found along the Oregon Trail. Set in 1845, the story begins as a group of three families commence their journey to the West, a land boasting promises of gold, prosperity, and opportunity. To lead their wagon team, they optimistically hire Stephen Meek, a legendary adventurer with wild-graying locks, a bushy beard, and tall tales of bear run-ins and Western heathens. When Meek suggests a short cut and guides them across unmarked paths through the Cascade Mountains, they inevitably become stranded in despondently harsh conditions with a severely depleting water supply. As the emigrants try to survive, the once silent threats of hunger, thirst, and loss of faith grow increasingly louder. The suspicions toward Meek of the vigilant, outspoken Emily (played brilliantly by a fearless Michelle Williams) are compounded by the trust she finds in a wandering Native American who offers to help. As a whole, the group must choose between abandoning the guidance of a man who has led them so close to death, or placing their lives in the hands of the proposed enemy, a man they can't even understand. A beautiful portrait of the barren earth, fateful hills, and infinite skies of the American landscape in the 19th century, MEEK'S CUTOFF is a stark frontier film about the fear and danger of trusting the unknown. – M.M.