LOST IN AMERICA: KELLY REICHARDT’S “MEEK’S CUTOFF”

By James Ponsoldt

Originally published in the Winter 2011 issue. Meek’s Cutoff is nominated for Best Feature.

Before you see the first image of Meek’s Cutoff, you hear the film. Simultaneously swelling is the whoosh of rushing water and Jeff Grace’s unnerving, anxious score, which sounds like strings on guitar played backwards. Imagine a rusty fence gate slowly opening. That’s your invitation to the film.

Then a title card — hand-stitched on what looks like the potato-sack material used to cover a wagon — announces that we’re in Oregon, and the year: 1845.

This happens quickly, in less than 20 seconds, but by the time the first image fades in on a man leading two oxen and a wagon through a river in glorious, colorful 1.37 “Academy” ratio film (a square, not a wide-screen rectangle), there’s already a claustrophobic tension, and you know Meek’s Cutoff won’t be your father or even grandfather’s Western.

There’s a crisis, and there will be no easy resolution.

This statement describes each of the features Kelly Reichardt has directed. Since Old Joy premiered at Sundance in 2006, she has managed to add a chapter to her continuing exploration of America — through the lens of the Pacific Northwest — every two years (with Wendy and Lucy in 2008 followed by Meek’s Cutoff, which premiered in 2010 at the Venice Film Festival). Each of these stories, created with Reichardt’s writing collaborator Jonathan Raymond, follows travelers: disenfranchised outsiders, people trying to move on and having trouble reaching their destination.

The three films complement each other, yet each one feels fully realized and unique. As a viewer, I couldn’t help but hope that in some alternate film universe the sad-eyed Kurt (Will Oldham) from Old Joy would find Wendy (Michelle Williams) from Wendy and Lucy and they might stop each other’s drifting, try to save each other; become new partners.

Reichardt’s films are often labeled “minimal,” though a more appropriate term might be: specific. An incredibly thoughtful director, Reichardt’s camera framing is always precise and the score and sound design are pitch-perfect (she works with Leslie Shatz, the … Read the rest

VENICE COMPETITION TITLES ANNOUNCED

The Venice Film Festival have announced their slate of competition films vying for the Golden Lion. Included in the list is the opening night film, Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan as well as Kelly Reichart‘s Meek’s Cutoff and Sofia Coppola‘s Somewhere.

Also announced are out of competition titles The Town, directed by Ben Affleck; little brother Casey Affleck’s documentary on Joaquin Phoenix, I’m Still Here; and Robert Rodriguez’s Machete.

The festival runs Sept. 1-11.

The full list of titles are below.

“Attenberg,” Athina Rachel Tsangari, Greece
“Barney’s Version,” Richard J. Lewis, Canada/Italy
“Black Swan,” Darren Aronofsky, USA
“Black Venus,” Abdellatif Kechiche, France
“Detective Dee and the Mystery of Phantom Flame,” Tsui Hark, China
“Happy Few,” Antony Cordier, France
“Meek’s Cutoff,” Kelly Reichardt, USA
“Miral,” Julian Schnabel, USA/France/Italy/Israel
“Noi Credevamo,” Mario Martone, Italy
“Norwegian Wood,” Anh Hung Tran, Japan
“La Passione,” Carlo Mazzacurati, Italy
“La Pecora Nera,” Ascanio Celestini, Italy
“Post Mortem,” Pablo Lerrain, Chile
“Potiche,” Francois Ozon, France
“Promises Written in Water,” Vincent Gallo, USA
“Road to Nowhere,” Monte Hellman, USA
“A Sad Trumpet Ballad,” Álex de la Iglesia, Spain
“Silent Souls,” Aleksei Fedorchenko, Russia
“The Solitude of Prime Numbers,” Saverio Costanzo, Italy
“Somewhere,” Sofia Coppola, USA
“13 Assassins,” Takashi Miike, Japan
“Three,” Tom Tykwer, Germany… Read the rest