Michelle Williams stars in Kelly Reichardt's minimalist frontier saga.
Park City, Utah
Most Sundance films don't arrive in the nation's theaters until summer at the soonest, but Mineapolis may jump the waiting line with a first look at "Meek's Crossing," an unconventional Western from Kelly Reichardt (director of the acclaimed if little-seen "Wendy and Lucy").
Reichardt, the subject of a Walker Art Center retrospective and Regis Dialogue last year, said the museum is in discussions with distributor Oscilloscope Pictures to show the film in April, prior to its theatrical release. Reichardt and executive producer Todd Haynes (who directed the surreal Bob Dylan biopic "I'm Not There") may attend to introduce and discuss their film.
"Wendy and Lucy" star Michelle Williams plays a member of a three-family wagon train on an arduous journey along a dicey shortcut to the Oregon Trail. The fact-based film captures the tenor of the difficult journey and critiques the nomads' follow-the-leader mentality while actively rejecting the shoot-em-up heroics of traditional Westerns. Its focus is on a group of wanderers pursuing the American Dream across a harsh landscape to an uncertain end. The cast includes Paul Dano ("There Will Be Blood"), Shirley Henderson ("Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire") and Bruce Greenwood ("Star Trek").
