So this is a Kelly Reichardt movie, and you can tell. Like Wendy and Lucy it features Michelle Williams traveling across the Pacific Northwest and having transportation difficulty — only here she’s in a covered wagon, traveling in a small group of three families that seem to have gotten lost and are worried about whether they’ll find water.

I’m not going to spoil the plot, but tbh there’s not much plot to spoil. What’s interesting in this movie is the sense it gives of how precarious and lonely a wagon train must have been. There’s a scene early in the movie where they’re fording a river, and if you’re not thinking of the Oregon Trail, well, you’ll have plenty of chances to think about it later.

(Although also, I’m not sure how much this is really straight history, either. This is based on a true story, and in the true story, when Meek leads the group on an untravelled route, two hundred wagons follow him, not the three that we see here. That would be a very, very different movie.)

The movie is atmospheric, it captures the interpersonal dynamics of the group, but… ultimately, there’s just not a lot more going on than that. Characters don’t develop much, there aren’t many big events in the movie, it’s really kind of just an ambient Desert Bus thing. I liked it well enough, but I think First Cow is significantly more interesting, if you’re looking for Reichardt period pieces in 4:3 aspect ratio.