When I was a kid I was never a fan of westerns, but I can’t get enough of them now. I especially like my westerns to be intimate, immersive and full of slow-burning tension – where you really get to know the characters and live their situation. Meek’s Cutoff looks like a film that’ll offer us all of that and then some, which is why it’s on my ‘must see’ list for this year’s New Zealand International Film Festival.

Focusing on three settler families traveling together along the Oregon trail in 1845, the film brings us a stark portrayal of what it must have been like to live in those times. Isolated and alone, settlers had to rely on their guides to get them to where they needed to go. They also faced countless dangers along the way, from becoming lost in the vast wilderness to being attacked by American Indians. Sounds like this will be a very cheery watch then.

Despite its rather gloomy storyline, Meek’s Cutoff looks to be a fascinatingly gripping watch. And there’s certainly some excellent acting talent on display with Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine and Brokeback Mountain), the always watchable Will Patton (Armageddon and The Postman), and Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek).

This film looks stunning too. The landscapes have been filmed in a very artistic way, yet don’t appear to have lost any of the raw grit needed for a film of this nature. I also really like (although I’m not sure why) that the film has been shot in the old 4:3 format. It certainly works, even though I would have thought a film this cinematic would have been shot using the widest ratio possible. Show’s you how much I know about filmmaking!

Enjoy!

Here’s the plot synopsis:

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 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 of faith in each other’s instincts for survival. When a Native American wanderer 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.

Directed by Kelly Reichardt (Wendy and Lucy and Old Joy), Meek’s Cutoff stars Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood, Will Paton, Zoe Cazan (Fracture and It’s Complicated), Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood), Shirlie Henderson (Marie Antoinette), Neal Huff, Tommy Nelson, and Rod Rondeaux.

Head on over to the NZIFF 2011 website to see when Meek’s Cutoff is playing at a festival centre near you.

So will you being getting tickets for Meek’s Cutoff? How do you like your westerns? What’s your favourite western?

Oh, and here’s the very cool movie poster for Meek’s Cutoff: