The Oregon Trail

In the films of Kelly Reichardt, Oregon is America: its frontier, its
crumbling edge, its lost soul. Three of her masterful works are set
there; all play in TIFF Bell Lightbox’s new, should-see Reichardt
retrospective.

Her newest, Meek’s
Cutoff, shoots up an old idea of the Western. There’s precious
little action; it’s agonizingly slow on the Oregon Trail. Nor is there a
cowboy hero; instead, Michelle Williams is the troubled moral compass.
She and the sky make for beauty in bleakness.

Williams also starred in 2009’s Wendy and Lucy, a dog-gone
lonely tale set in New Depression-era Oregon. Before that was Old
Joy (2006), a road-trip rumination with folk-rocker Will Oldham.
Seen together, Reichardt’s Oregon trilogy is a determined exploration of
the American reality, the dream hung out to dry. SNP

Meek’s Cutoff opens Friday, May 13; next come
showings of Wendy and Lucy and Old Joy. For tickets and info, see TIFF.net