Review of Slow West (2015) by Ola G — 21 Jul 2015

Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a Scottish high born boy, travels to the United States to search for his love, Rose Ross (Caren Pistorius). He runs into a group of former soldiers who chase and attempt to kill a Native American. The leader of the soldiers question Jay's ethnicity while his group continues the chase. A bounty hunter Silas Selleck (Michael Fassbender), arrives and kills all the soldiers. Jay pays Silas for protection and reveals his connection to Rose. They stop at a trading post for a meal where, unbeknownst to Jay, Silas sees a wanted poster offering a $2000 bounty for Rose and her father John (Rory McCann), and plans to use the boy to get to his bounty. Another man, Victor the Hawk (Edwin Wright), leaves just as Jay and Silas arrive and also takes notice of the poster. Shortly after they arrive at a trading post for a meal, a Swedish man and woman attempt to rob the place for money. The owner kills the man, but gets shot by the woman. Jay shoots the woman in the back, killing her. The two hastily gather some provisions and leave, and are shocked to find the couple's children waiting outside. Jay silently put down some clothes and food in front of the children, then leaves with Silas. A series of flashbacks reveals that Rose was aware of Jay's affection, but only cared for him as a "little brother", and was unswayed by his claim that he was the best match she would be able to find, due to her low social standing in comparison to him. One evening, he sneaked to her house, and she hid him her bed when John got home. Jay's uncle, Lord Cavendish, came to retrieve Jay. After he called Rose a peasant and slapped her, John angrily pushed him away, accidentally killing him when Lord Cavendish hit his head on a rock. Afterwards, John and Rose left for America, leaving Jay wracked with guilt. Will Jay finds Rose? And will their relation change as he has shown her how much he loves her by coming all the way to America after her?

Bilge Ebiri of New York magazine said that it is "an absurdist, melancholy coming-of-age tale that jumps from odd comedy to striking violence to stirring reflection". "Slow West" made me think of "The Assassination of Jesse James" in terms of pace and structure, but as well of The Coen Brothers "True Grit". However, "Slow West" has a narrative that borders to surrealism and a dreamlike atmosphere/state and that gives us a very specific type of western avoiding the classic set up of a western. The violence is quite sudden and what we see is an unforgiving western where death doesn´t matter that much, it´s just part of life and it all comes down to protecting your own life and your valuables. Desperation feeds desperate actions and it´s not always pretty. But, humour is part of this tale as well and the oddness between the different layers works well, but not all will be pleased with this sort of film and narrative. The cinematography is quite beautiful, but minimalistic in approach and result most of the times. The feeling of isolation from life, mankind and humanity lingers over the film and the feeling of lost love becomes of course the pillar. Kodi Smit-McPhee and Michael Fassbender has good chemisty and when the beautiful and tough as nails Caren Pistorius finally shows up properly we get a great final part of the film that ends in a memorable way.