Good movie. It is what it is, of course. The wagons with the squeaky wheels moving slowly across desolate fields, with people ambling and coughing and mumbling as they go. It has a few social/political currents, too, including burgeoning feminism and differing views on the treatment of Native Americans, but they're more well-intentioned half sketches than full-blooded conversations. Michelle Williams and Bruce Greenwood give compelling and memorable performances, helped no doubt by the fact they play the most colorful characters. Others, such as Paul Dano, are used more as flesh-and-blood props.

The "controversial" ending is certainly haunting, though it's also, in its own particular way, incredibly predictable. OF COURSE this movie fades to black without any firm resolution. It almost would have been more surprising and jarring had it ended with them finding water.