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Meek's Cutoff

Western


The critical consensus

Despite its small scale though, there is something epic about this film (in part due to its political subtext), which certainly warrants and rewards multiple viewings.

****(*)Anna Rogers, The List, 24/03/2011

With its mythic, dreamlike atmosphere, hints of feminism and a subversive touch of political allegory, Meek's Cutoff is a bold new take on the Old West.

****(*)Philip Kemp, Total Film, 28/03/2011

The film's vivid sense of place and unsettling ambiguity lend it a timeless, dreamlike quality, making it both the strangest and finest revisionist western since Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man.

*****Philip Concannon, The Skinny, 07/04/2011

This impressionist Western won't be everyone's slug of bourbon but it's a slow burn that will richly reward the patient.

****(*)Ian Freer, Empire Online, 11/04/2011

It's an uncompromising picture - a radical experiment in pushing a few scant details as far as they'll go - and, like the film's coffee preparations, the picture can be a slow grind.

Siobhan Synnot, The Scotsman, 12/04/2011

A spare but gripping story about the allure of a new start and the dangers of isolation.

****(*)Alison Rowat, The Herald, 14/04/2011

The purposefully irresolute ending will probably frustrate some, who may view its ambiguity and deferrals as evidence of the director’s gift for texture over narrative, for ambience over argument.

***(*)(*)Sukhdev Sandhu, The Telegraph, 14/04/2011

Ultimately has all the cinematic allure of watching someone churn butter.

**(*)(*)(*)Paul Greenwood, Evening Times, 15/04/2011

The ending will divide opinion between "hauntingly ambiguous" and "cop-out".

***(*)(*)Anthony Quinn, The Independent, 15/04/2011

This superbly made, austere film is Reichardt's best yet, certainly a huge advance on her previous work, Wendy and Lucy (2008) and a powerful new addition to the western genre.

****(*)Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 14/04/2011

Achingly beautiful, atmospheric and well-acted.

****(*)Caroline Jowett, Daily Express, 15/04/2011

Like a wagon with a wobbly wheel, it takes forever to go almost nowhere.

**(*)(*)(*)Daily Record, 15/04/2011

[It's] ambiguity, along with the enigmatic, irresolute ending may prove frustrating for some, but it's an honest acknowledgment of the way life, especially for those at the bottom of the heap, rarely goes to plan.

****(*)Alistair Harkness, The Scotsman, 16/04/2011

The actors inhabit their roles with total conviction, and the picture creates its own sense of time and space.

Philip French, The Observer, 17/04/2011

It's a fine film; John Ford would have detested it.

Jonathan Romney, The Independent on Sunday, 17/04/2011


Features about Meek's Cutoff

Interview: Kelly Reichardt, film director

Stephen Applebaum, The Scotsman, 25/02/2011

Kelly Reichardt: Redefining the Western

Jamie Dunn, The Skinny, 07/04/2011

Kelly Reichardt: how I trekked across Oregon for Meek's Cutoff then returned to teaching

Ryan Gilbey, The Guardian, 09/04/2011

Never one for moaning

Alison Rowat, The Herald, 07/04/2011

Where and when?

Edinburgh Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Friday April 15, 2011, until Thursday April 21, 2011. More info: www.filmhousecinema.com

General release. Check local listings for show times.

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