85
Metascore
36 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Boxoffice MagazineSteve RamosBoxoffice MagazineSteve RamosEpic in scope, and featuring a powerful lead performance by Williams, Reichardt does justice to the myth of the wagon train settlers and makes a Western every bit as beautiful and poetic as Terrence Malick's "Days of Heaven," and thankfully a bit more energetic.
- 100SalonAndrew O'HehirSalonAndrew O'HehirIn this quiet, beautiful and terrifying fable about a group of lost pioneers, Reichardt combines epic ambition with a focus on intimate, personal detail.
- 100The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasMeticulous and immersive, Meek's Cutoff feels like history in three dimensions.
- 90VarietyJustin ChangVarietyJustin ChangWorking on a richer and more intricate canvas than she's previously attempted, Kelly Reichardt has pulled off a rare thing with Meek's Cutoff -- a low-budget period Western with a bracing feminist spin.
- 90MovielineStephanie ZacharekMovielineStephanie ZacharekMeek's Cutoff is an ambitious feat of visual storytelling that's alive to both its landscape and the actors who people it.
- 80Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanCinematic as it is, Meek's Cutoff has an uncanny theatricality. The scenes alternating between windswept emptiness and the dark void could be played on a barren stage. For all its detailed authenticity, this minimalist "Wagon Train" is less naturalistic than existential.
- A realistic slice of pioneer life that offers a disquieting alternative vision of America's most mythic location.
- 60Time OutJoshua RothkopfTime OutJoshua RothkopfMeek's Cutoff has found its passionate defenders, those who admire it almost because of its meandering, heavily politicized nature. Yet you might try it-and try it again-and still only grab a handful of dust.