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.
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.
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.
This impressionist Western won't be everyone's slug of bourbon but it's a slow burn that will richly reward the patient.
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.
A spare but gripping story about the allure of a new start and the dangers of isolation.
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.
Ultimately has all the cinematic allure of watching someone churn butter.
The ending will divide opinion between "hauntingly ambiguous" and "cop-out".
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.
Achingly beautiful, atmospheric and well-acted.
Like a wagon with a wobbly wheel, it takes forever to go almost nowhere.
[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.
The actors inhabit their roles with total conviction, and the picture creates its own sense of time and space.
It's a fine film; John Ford would have detested it.
Interview: Kelly Reichardt, film director
Kelly Reichardt: Redefining the Western
Kelly Reichardt: how I trekked across Oregon for Meek's Cutoff then returned to teaching
Never one for moaning
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.