Ok, so the first clip of Kelly Reichardt’s “Meek’s Cutoff” has arrived. That’s good.
However, the clip is set up by a French host and doesn’t start until about a minute in. That’s bad.
The film is a Western and stars Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Bruce Greenwood, Shirley Henderson, Zoe Kazan and Will Patton. That’s good.
The host also talks over some of the clip and is seems pretty annoying. That’s bad. The film is Reichardt’s follow-up to the critically acclaimed “Wendy & Lucy” which was excellent and as far as we’re concerned Williams was robbed of an Oscar nomination. That’s good (not the robbing part). The film also debuts at the Toronto International Film Festival this week or next. That’s also good. More photos and details here and the clip is below.
Is that the aspect ratio of the movie?
Yes it's in 1.37:1 🙁
Not a very crowd-pleasing choice I don't think…
Strange – since those barren landscapes would really seem to lend themselves to a wider format. Apparently 1:37 was standard ("Academy ratio") on studio films between 1932 and 1952, so maybe Reichardt is trying to evoke the westerns of that period?
@Jessica
Most probably. But honestly to the modern viewer it looks more akin to the days of 4:3 CRT tv movies.
It's a shame, but one critic did point out that it lends to make the frame more claustrophobic. So there's that…