Sightlines · reception
How Meek's Cutoff was received
2011 · Kelly Reichardt · Meek's Cutoff on Sightlines
The arc
Famously divisive on release — its glacial pace prompted walkouts and even refund demands from arthouse audiences even as critics swooned at Venice 2010 — it's since been canonized as one of the great 21st-century westerns and a cornerstone of Kelly Reichardt's reputation.
What’s debated
The abrupt, unresolved ending is the eternal flashpoint — half of film Twitter calls it the whole point, the other half still feels robbed.
Its footprint
It's the standard citation in the 'slow cinema' and aspect-ratio conversations — the boxy 1.33:1 frame and those bonnet-shrouded women are among the most discussed formal choices in modern American indie film.
Where it stands
A Letterboxd-era canon climber: a fixture on best-westerns-of-the-century lists and the film people reach for when arguing Reichardt is a major American director.
Did you know? Reichardt shot the film in the old-fashioned square Academy ratio (1.33:1) partly to mimic the restricted, blinkered view the women would have had from inside their bonnets — the opposite of the widescreen vistas the western genre is built on.