Meek’s Cutoff – Turn Right up Ahead – No, your Other Right!
Friday, April 8, 2011 at 10:27PM Tweet By Bennett Owen
Image courtesy of MeeksCutoff.com
A “meditative western”…an “anti western”…”austere and unforgiving”…a “stripped down feminist western.” Something tells me this film isn’t going to be another True Grit, even with an 87% favorable rating at Rotten Tomatoes and critical raves on the film festival circuit. But it’s a western, further bolstering my claim that the genre is on the cusp of a renaissance.
Image courtesy of Sundance Institute
Meek’s Cutoff takes us back to the Oregon Trail, circa 1845, with three families following a mountain guide who knows a shortcut through the desert. It’s the setup for a burgeoning battle of the sexes:
One reviewer puts the story in the modern day context of a wife patiently suggesting that her hubby pull into a gas station and ask for directions. I guess I can commiserate with Meek the Mountain Man when he tells his exasperated party, “We’re not lost. We’re just finding our way.”
Image courtesy of MeeksCutoff.com
Meek's Cutoff, Oregon Trail, Pioneer Women, Western | in Meek's Cutoff