Kelly Reichardt's glorious slow-burn western, which had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, is finally on DVD.
Two equally cool, contemplative and plot-neutral films – ‘Meek’s Cutoff’ and Sofia Coppola’s ‘Somewhere’ – competed for the Golden Lion. One was universally lauded and touted as the surefire winner. The other was dismissed as shallow, self-regarding and meaningless. And the wrong film won.
The sheer gulf of quality and intention between these two superficially similar films couldn’t be wider. The ‘cinema of nothing’ that both Reichardt and Coppola practice may be currently in vogue, but their approaches to it differ wildly: where Coppola uses the camera to reflect her own celebrity-centric interests, Reichardt’s gaze is firmly fixed on the outside world, and particularly on those poor souls who have lost their place within it.
‘Meek’s Cutoff’ is a western, but it’s like no horse opera you’ve ever seen. Michelle Williams plays Emily, one of a small band of settlers wagon-training west, keeping their eyes peeled for Indian raiders. But with supplies dwindling and tough-talking guide Meek (Bruce Greenwood) looking increasingly out of his depth, the group reluctantly turn to a captured Cayuse warrior (Rod Rondeaux) for guidance.
OTHER NEW STUFF THIS WEEK
PAUL (2011) BLU-RAY
PAUL (2011)
SUCKER PUNCH (2011) BLU-RAY
SUCKER PUNCH (2011)
SOURCE CODE (2011) BLU-RAY
SOURCE CODE (2011)
SOURCE CODE (2011) BLU-RAY
SOURCE CODE (2011)
UP PERISCOPE! (1959)
YOUR HIGHNESS (2011)
BATTLE: LOS ANGELES (2011) BLU-RAY
MEEK'S CUTOFF (2011)
LOU (2011)
PLEASURE GIRLS, THE (1965)
PLEASURE GIRLS, THE
BATTLE: LOS ANGELES (2011)
REEF, THE (2010)
HEDGEHOG, THE (2009)
SCARFACE (1983) BLU-RAY
A CAT IN PARIS (2010)
EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF ADELE BLAC-SEC (2010)
HOUSEMAID, THE (2010)
TOMBSTONE (1993)
AMADEUS (1984) BLU-RAY
BOURNE IDENTITY, THE (2002) BLU-RAY
BOURNE SUPREMACY, THE (2004)
BOURNE ULTIMATUM. THE (2007)
ALIEN (1979) BLU-RAY
ALIENS (1986) BLU-RAY
ALIEN 3 (1992) BLU-RAY
ALIEN RESURRECTION (1997) BLU-RAY
MAKING THE ALIEN ANTHOLOGY (2010)
MUSIC ROOM, THE (1958) CRITERION