Recommended. Anyone wandering the West quickly is impressed by its innate ferocity. The deserts of eastern Oregon, Nevada and Utah - - the Great Basin - - are given to vision and mirage. The idea of crossing it, sans interstate, tracked by thirst and hostile aborigines seems beyond humanity. Kelly Reichardt’s movie Meek’s Cutoff primarily uses sounds and pictures to evoke that sense of aridity, with effectively spare dialog. She gets another very nice performance from Michelle Williams and Will Patton, both in Wendy and Lucy, well supported by Paul Dano and Bruce Greenwood. The story comes from history, and I warn you, the plot does not resolve. The party relies on a captured Nez Pearce Indian (stuntman Rod Rondeaux) to lead them to water and Reichardt supplies no subtitles to reveal his intentions. An online translation suggests he, too, thinks it’s all a dream. . . . revealing a strange and lovely image for the audience.
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