Roads to nowhere: Kelly Reichardt’s broken American dreams – an ebook to prepare you for First Cow

Seventh Row recently named Kelly Reichardt’s Certain Women the #2 film of the 2010s, and the four leads appeared on our list of the 50 best films of the decade. Reichardt is a modern master.

Roads to nowhere offers the first in-depth, 360-degree look at Reichardt’s process through interviews with Reichardt herself and her collaborators on First Cow, many of whom have been working with her for years including cinematographer Christopher Blauvelt (who has worked with her on every film since Meek’s Cutoff), author Jon Raymond (who co-wrote almost all the Oregon films), and costume designer April Napier (Certain Women, First Cow). The interviews get technical without assuming any background knowledge from the reader, so you can learn about aspect ratios, acting technique and more without needing a film school background. Beyond Reichardt’s own work, the book reveals how film is a collaborative process across disciplines and how these artists interact to create great films.

Through essays on each of Reichardt’s films, Roads to nowhere explores how her modern westerns are melancholy odes to lonely American lives through essays on each of her films. From unconventional crime dramas (River of Grass and Night Moves), to odd-couple buddy movies (Old Joy and First Cow, Reichardt’s characters, who often live on the margins of society, are forced to come to terms with their mundane and isolated lives that are so far from the grand promises of the American dream. Reichardt is fascinated by the routine processes of their everyday lives — milking a cow, cleaning out a horse stable, pitching a tent — and their failed attempts to connect with the people around them, who are equally as lonely.

Snag a copy of Roads to nowhere, to discover how this modern master operates, and to read a series of essays about each of Reichardt’s films, which examine her thoughtful, quiet portraits of everyday lives.