Review of Slow West (2015) by Raji K — 29 Sep 2016

John Maclean writes and directs his first feature film Slow West. Kodi Smit-Mcphee is Jay Cavendish, a naïve young kid that is traveling west from Scotland to visit the love of his life Rose (Caren Pistorius). He comes across a mysterious gunman Silas (Michael Fassbender) who assures Jay that he will not make it much farther west without his help. For the cost of 100 dollars, the two agree to travel together as they encounter nothing short of crooked generals, bounty hunters and hostile Native Americans. What Jay is unaware of is that he is leading the bounty hunters straight to Rose where she is wanted dead or alive for 2000 dollars for a murder she was wrongfully accused. This makes Silas' character much more mysterious as the audience gets to spend much of the film judging and debating his morality and true intentions.

Slow West is brilliantly shot and features many gorgeous shots of the Jay and Silas roaming the countryside. The landscapes featured include mountains, wild flowers, and forests all from wide shot angles. An interesting shot occurs when Jay is wondering if a mushroom is edible. The camera is from the perspective of the bottom of the mushroom so that the look of doubt on Jay's face can really be captured. The pacing of the film is slower than a typical western, but the scenic shots and amiable characters make this negligible. Ben Mendelsohn is an excellent supporting character Payne, who leads his team of bounty hunters and has a past with Silas. Maclean does not hesitate to remind that the West at this time period was nothing short of kill or be killed. The film has many victims most of which are those who are not able to pull the trigger fast enough regardless of their innocence. As Silas strives to educate the key to survival in these harsh times, Jay remains optimistic, blinded by love.

The film comes to quite an action packed ending which really closes the film on all accounts. A massive shootout between the wanted bounties and the bounty hunters makes up for the films slower pace. In addition, each character in the film is forced to pay for their character flaws. This style of pacing to me was quite similar to Quinten Tarantino, and feel if Maclean had his type of reputation this film would be much more acclaimed. Per usual Fassbender acts his best type of character, which is the hardnosed/edgy character. Smit-Mcphee is a great lovable loser that you root for on his journey for lost love. The narration done throughout the film also comes full circle making the ending all the more bittersweet. Slow West demonstrates that not all Westerns have to have the same format and Maclean's first film has me hoping for more feature films of his to come. Hopefully the fact that the film was not a huge financial success does not prevent more films of his from being made.

-9.30.2016.