Cinematheque Ontario presents – Kelly Reichardt

Meek’s Cutoff A film by Kelly Reichardt Screenplay by Jon Raymond

Starring Michelle Willams, Bruce Greenwood, Will Patton, Zoe Kazan, Paul Dano, Shirley Henderson, Neal Huff, Tommy Nelson and Rod Rondeaux

Opens in Toronto, Thursday May 12th at TIFF Bell Lightbox

TIFF Bell Lightbox will also feature Wandering, Wondering: The Films of Kelly Reichardt, a retrospective on Reichardt’s work from May 12th to May 17th as part of The New Auteurs series

Directed by Kelly Reichardt (Wendy and Lucy; Old Joy; Ode, River of Grass) “MEEK’S CUTOFF” is an unorthodox Western that continues Reichardt’s penchant for foregrounding those too often ignored by society, history, and Hollywood – in this case the women of the story.

The year is 1845, the earliest days of the Oregon Trail, and a wagon team of three families has hired the mountain man Stephen Meek (Bruce Greenwood – Mao’s Last Dancer; Barney’s Version; Dinner for Schmucks) to guide them over the Cascade Mountains.  Claiming to know a short cut, Meek leads the group on an unmarked path across the high plain desert, only to become lost in the dry rock and sage.  Over the coming days, the emigrants must face the scourges of hunger, thirst and their own lack if faith in each other’s instincts for survival.  When a Native American wanderer (Rod Rondeaux – 3:10 To Yuma; Wild, Wild West; Crazy Horse) crosses their path, the emigrants are torn between their trust in a guide who has proven himself unreliable and a man who has always been seen as the natural enemy).

The film also stars Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine; Brokeback Mountain; Wendy and Lucy), Will Patton (Wendy and Lucy; Brooklyn’s Finest; A Mighty Heart), Zoe Kazan (Revolutionary Road; Fracture; The Savages), Paul Dano (Cowboys and Aliens; The Extra Man; Knight and Day; Where the Wild Things Are; There Will be Blood), Shirley Henderson (Rob Roy; Trainspotting; Wonderland; The Claim; 24 Hour Party People), Neal Huff (Jack and Diane; Monogamy; Motherhood; Michael Clayton; The Good Shepherd), and Tommy Nelson (The Good Shepherd; The She Found Me; The Ten).

Director/ Editor, Kelly Reichardt :

American landscapes and narratives of the road are themes that run throughout Kelly Reichardt’s work including past films Wendy and Lucy (2008); Old Joy (2006) and Ode (1999).  Her first feature, River of Grass (1994), was shot in her home town of Dade Country, Florida.

In preparation for Meek’s Cutoff, she read diaries of women who made the migration west.

“The women’s stories offer such a specific take on the history – one totally different from the one portrayed in the Hollywood Western … the diaries paint a picture of an endless landscape and a trance-like feeling of one day rolling into the next.”

Reichardt and writer Jon Raymond, who have also worked together on Old Joy and Wendy and Lucy, have referred to the three films as an “Oregon Trilogy” with all three being connected in underlying themes, political under currents and general feel.

Reichardt is the recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship and teaches at Bard College.

Meek’s Cutoff is being released in Canada by KINOSMITH INC.  KINOSMITH is an independent Canadian film distribution & marketing company founded in February 2007 by distribution veteran Robin Smith. With a mandate to bring critically-acclaimed Canadian and international films to audiences across the country, the company has distributed over 120 feature films in the last three years as well as providing marketing advice to completed films and productions in development. KINOSMITH is also home to the Hot Docs Collection on DVD that releases award winning documentaries curated by the Hot Docs festival in Canada. Current KINOSMITH releases include:  Marwencol; Last Train Home; A Film Unfinished; The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls; Ed Gass-Donnelly’s critical hit Small Town Murder Songs; The Arbor; Fathers & Sons; and the award-winning doc You Don’t Like The Truth.

104 minutes Official Website: http://www.meekscutoff.com

The New Auteurs: Wandering, Wondering: The Films of Kelly Reichardt at TIFF Bell Lightbox

For its second installment, The New Auteurs presents celebrated American independent filmmaker Kelly Reichardt and her impressive body of work. Reichardt implicitly addresses America’s state of mind with a quiet ly powerful poetic realism, while radically challenging the country’s founding myths and ideologies. The retrospective begins with a new print of her debut film River of Grass (1993) — a sun-drenched take on film noir — and culminates with the multiple award-winning Old Joy (2006), starring indie folk icon Will Oldham.  The series also includes the director’s newest release, Meek’s Cutoff (2010), starring Michelle Williams in a twist on the Western genre; Ode (1999), a moody Gus Van Sant-esque reconfiguration of a ‘60s Southern Gothic tale originally shot on Super 8; Wendy and Lucy (2008), which was awarded Best Picture by the Toronto Film Critics Association; and Reichardt’s Carte Blanche pick, Nicholas Ray’s modern-day Western drama The Lusty Men (1952), a lyrical and deeply emotional ode to male nostalgia, loneliness and illusions, presented in a rare archival print.

For ticket information visit tiff.net or call 416-599-TIFF

Capsule Reviews:-

WENDY AND LUCY (USA 2008) **
Directed by Kelly Reichardt

WENDY AND LUCY is executively produced by Todd Haynes.  It is not surprising to see why Haynes was interested in the project as WENDY AND LUCY shares the same sparse style of Haynes’ earlier films.  Director Kelly Reichardt’s film of a girl and her lost dog traces, with a documentary styled look, Wendy’s (Michelle Williams) slow deterioration into tears (she starts off as one foul-mouthed hard cookie) as she exhausts one avenue after another in her desperate search for her dog. 

It does not help that she is broke and on her way to Alaska (traces of a poor man’s or in this case wonan’s version of INTO THE WILD?) with no money, family or friend.  But Reihardt’s film is too manipulative with help appearing just at the right moment or her call to family made just so that the audience can be told that the family does not care.  The reason for Wendy’s journey to Alaska is never dealt to satisfactory detail.  When Wendy finally finds Lucy, she throws a stick three times for Lucy to catch.  Lucy gets it.  But most viewers will likely not get the point of this movie.

But the TFCA (Toronto Film Critics Association) bestowed their highest awards of Best Film and Best Actress to WENDY AND LUCY and Michelle Williams.  I leave to the audience to watch the film to judge.

OLD JOY (USA 2006) ***
Directed by Kelly Reichardt

Also executively produced by Todd Haynes and with a dog named Lucy in it, OLD JOY is an honest meditative unpretentious piece of filmmaking that is as enjoyable to watch as the characters immerse themselves on their road trip.  Mark (Daniel London) escapes his wife and partly the fear of fatherhood as he joins his best childhood friend Kurt (Will Oldham) for a weekend camping trip in the Cascade mountain range east of Portland, Oregon.  It is a minimalist story of friendship, loss and alienation in the Bush , as heard in the background on the radio, which is as interesting as the film’s main story.  Nothing much really happens, but Reichardt’s film is mostly enjoyable from the reactions of the characters to situations like getting lost, covering up failed promises to the wife and renewed unconditional friendships.  One wants the film to keep going on but Reichardt ends his film rather abruptly.  One also wishes he would have provided more of what kinds of jobs/education each of the two leads and the wife were involved with.