Why This Is a Beautiful Failure.
As I began to watch Meek’s Cutoff, I knew this film was going to be slow. I knew if I liked it, I’d call it lingering and lyrical; if I disliked it, I’d call it drudging and boring.
It is both lingering/lyrical and drudging/boring. And the explanation I find is that it is too long. It needs editing.
The film’s beauty is the cinematography, the composition, the framing. The landscapes, the colors, the near painting like shots.
Drudging/boring? As said, too long. Almost evrey scene begs for a cut. Example –a 20 or so second shot of the sun, high in the sky, a burning blistering star pound heat. Cut to a shot of a woman dried, parched baked. I both understand and feel the heat, her heat. But this takes the better part of a minute. EDIT! Cut it down for time – with the same impact. We the viewers are not that dense. (Are we?)
I watched so many beautifully constructed shots, wonderfully filmed … that seemed interminable. A few shots like this are fine. However, it was the entire film’s basis. Yes, establish the vast emptiness, the overhead heat. But be aware that drama, conflict, resolution are essential to narrative. Symbolism is wonderful and opens up so much rich discussion. But without some movement, other than an ongoing plod west, symbolism is hollow. Man vs. nature, manifest destiny, noble savage, the growing strong feminism, class structure … all very evocative. The last scene – go ahead and discuss it. But to what end. I appreciate open-endedness but here it all seems like it’s an empty bucket of lack of narrative. Which is fine. In a 30 minute short. Edit!! Reichardt's Cutoff, please.