Boring? Or truly simply underrated.
The minimalist, harrowing drama Meek’s Cutoff might be greatest recognized for igniting a debate about artwork and leisure when NY Occasions Journal’s Dan Kois labeled it as boring and cited watching it for instance of “consuming your cultural greens” (i.e., one thing that you simply do out of a have to show your sophistication, relatively than for pleasure).
Whereas the controversy had benefit, utilizing Meek’s Cutoff as a central instance of an overcooked cultural vegetable was misguided—mainly as a result of, effectively, the movie isn’t boring. It’s slow-moving and sparse, nevertheless it’s additionally terrifying, intense, and taut, forcing you to think about the pioneer expertise in methods you by no means actually needed to.
Meek’s Cutoff is type of just like the basic laptop sport Oregon Path, besides crossed with The Shining. As a substitute of laughing when your pioneer household will get misplaced and the wagon breaks a wheel, the film makes you notice the utter horror of wandering hopelessly throughout barren terrain with another household that you simply’re beginning to view much less as companions and extra as potential brunch.
Maybe this skilled movie critic can persuade you:
“Past that, Meek’s Cutoff is a movie that works masterfully with house, time and historical past. You might name it a thriller or horror film in excessive gradual movement, or a parable that’s extra about 2010 than 1845. At varied moments it recollects Bertolucci’s The Sheltering Sky, Erich von Stroheim’s Greed and people verses from the Previous Testomony. Little doubt it might bore many individuals foolish, however its temper of desolation, hazard and determined religion affected me extra powerfully than the rest I noticed amid the onslaught of cinema at Toronto this 12 months.”—Andrew O’Hehir, Salon
When you’ve by no means seen Meek’s Cutoff, I’d encourage you to expertise it for your self. It’s a haunting, unforgettable tackle survival and the human spirit—a movie that lingers just like the desert’s oppressive silence.
Stream Meek’s Cutoff totally free on Amazon Video.