Meek's Cutoff

Director Kelly Reichardt returns with a meticulous and impressive anti-western period drama. A group of settlers lost in Oregon, 1845 are faced with the dilemma to further trust the guide responsible or an Indian they capture to get them back on track. No other genre has been stylized and bastardized like the western. Reichardt and her talented cast and crew try to set the record straight and show for once the harsh reality of the settler life with the nature as the real enemy. Minimalistic and enigmatic, Reichardt recreates the daily ordeals of the pioneers who literally set out West for a better life against all odds where one false move could have proven fatal, especially following the wrong leader. The moral of the story is timeless and politically relevant. The cast includes unrecognizable Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood and Paul Dano who all could have been replaced with total unknowns if financing would not have an issue. YRCinema's coverage of the 54th San Francisco International Film Festival.