Meek's Cutoff

A mesmerizing cinematic journey that is often as arduous and spare as the lives of its hard-bitten protagonists.

In this quiet, beautiful and terrifying fable about a group of lost pioneers, Reichardt combines epic ambition with a focus on intimate, personal detail.

En route, what emerges is the kind of film, rich in paradox, that's common to Reichardt but so rare anywhere else – a film ponderously slow in pace yet kinetically charged with insight; starkly realistic yet allegorical too; psychologically astute yet politically resonant.

Reichardt has crafted a haunted dream of a movie to get lost in.

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

For a movie about hard-driving pioneers, there is nevertheless much existential ennui in the air.

Who goes to the movies for 104 minutes of punishment? Where is John Wayne, now that we need him?

I really enjoyed this movie and felt obligated to post a review to help its score a bit. It's beautifully shot, acted, and full of subtleties. I highly recommend it. There is a real sense of dread and terror. The director doesn't spoon feed the audience anything, or show his hand. Which makes it all the more nerve-wracking (in a very good way). Few movies can create such a natural sense of unease without relying on shock-factor tricks. It's shocking to me how people think that a movie they don't like is some kind of scam or ploy by filmmakers and critics. Sad.

Its a reasonably good movie let down by a rather unfulfilled ending. Had I known of the type of ending I probably would have given it a miss. Its not a memorable film by any means and the fact that it scores in the green is probably a reflection of the poor choice of movies these days that anything of merit of this film.

In describing Reichardtâ

Slept most of the movie. Cinematography is impeccable. All the details are done with perfection. But there is not much else. Left the theater quite disappointed.

This is no Metacritic review, this movie is flat-out boring. You can defend it with a meta-argument like "the glacial pacing and eventless tedium of this movie is a true reflection of the settler experience on the Great Plains." Balderdash! It's just a really boring movie.