Slow West

 

Director: John Maclean

Starring:  Michael Fassbender, Ben Mendelsohn, Rory McCann, Kodi Smit-McPhee,  Caren Pistorius,  Alex Macqueen,  Brooke William

Rating: 15

Running time: 84 mins

Release date: 19th June, 2015

If you thought you knew what a typical classic western would be like, scrap that and throw away your assumptions when going into the cinema to watch SLOW WEST, as this is an utter deconstruction of the genre – and it is all the better for it.

The surreal frontier story written and directed by John Maclean (MAN ON A MOTORCYCLE), has been given a fresh 21st-century feel with is take on frontier mythology, which plays out in a style that the Coen brothers would be proud of.

Visually stunning and illustriously landscaped, credit must be given to Robbie Ryan and his glorious cinematography, which proves to be a polar opposite of the savagery of its outlaws and adventurers, who live by their own perilous rules and do what they must to survive, regardless of the consequences.

SLOW WEST takes us back in time to Colorado in 1870, which tells the story of a pair of travelling companions who have been thrown together by fate. Their journey is told through the eyes of breviloquent narrator, Silas, who is played superbly by Michael Fassbender. Throughout the film, the audience listens to the almost poetic phrases of the experienced frontiersman and cynical bounty hunter who appoints himself as the paid chaperone of Jay (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a 16-year-old innocent teenager from the Scottish Highlands who is there to search for his runaway love. Silas and Jay met by chance when the teenager who has miraculously survived his arrival in the Wild West without a scratch, is being menaced by a stray Union soldier hunting Indians for sport.

slow west Michael Fassbender

As we discover via a series of flashbacks, we learn that Jay has not arrived there by chance. He is in fact a son of aristocrats and is in America in pursuit of his sweetheart, Rose (Caren Pistorius), a girl from a humbler background who has settled on the Plains in a cabin with her father, John (Rory McCann). Jay doesn’t know it, but the father and daughter are the targets of bounty hunters responding to wanted posters, and Silas hopes the boy will lead him to their door. A flashback reveals that Rose thinks of Jay as a younger brother and not as a lover, a possibility that the besotted Jay refuses to entertain.

The Scottish flashbacks raise more questions than they answer about why and how the father and daughter fled their homeland to end up on the edge of a wheat field in the middle of nowhere. As played by Mr. Smit-McPhee (Viggo Mortensen’s son in “The Road”) Jay is so dewy and naïve he suggests a mannequin freshly plucked out of clear plastic casing.

Once Silas and Jay team up, they have a series of eerie encounters with various wanderers, dreamers and crooks who all fancy their chances on this bounty hunt to claim the illustrious reward. Silas is visited by a face from the past as he meets a gang of outlaws whose sinister leader, Payne (Ben Mendelsohn), was once a man he worked alongside. 

Slow West 2

Having embarked on some dangerous and illegal expeditions with Payne, Silas is lucky to have survived their conquests over the years and he is more than aware of the gang leader’s violent capabilities to get what he wants and things do end up getting violently worse in the film, as they find they are not alone when they approach Rose’s house.

Michael Fassbender is superb in his role as Silas. He is a man of few words but he doesn’t fail to provide relief in the comedic elements which are subtly placed within a sparse dialogue. As the sullen, but smart Silas, the audience are drawn towards the character and it is not difficult to admire the character’s survival and wit.

Fassbender works well onscreen alongside Kodi Smit-McPhee. The young actor’s character is rather expressionless, hard to read and not the most riveting of individuals, but nonetheless, his portrayal of Jay is exemplary.

All credit must go to John Maclean and his glorious optics. The panoramic shots of deserted land were beautifully captured on location in New Zealand and do a fine job of stealing the scenes in the movie. From deserted plains, to enchanting rivers and orange canyons, the whole film provides an epic and delicious visionary feast for the eyes as the duo battle their way through a land of dreams and toil.

SLOW WEST is an apt name for the film, which accurately describes the pacing of the moving – slow. But this is what makes it so effective; the slow unfolding of the story line and getting to know the characters is part of the appeal which makes the movie so enticing.

Overall, SLOW WEST is bursting with glorious cinematography, dark humour and the film is a strikingly intriguing new take on a Western in John Maclean’s accomplished first feature. Fassbender is undeniably enticing as the lone bounty hunter and this story of the foolish exploits of love and greed should draw in the audience and will hopefully do so because it has the ability to put Westerns back on the map again and light up the big screen once more. It is fun, entertaining, darkly twisted and provides the right amount of humour in this violent Western tale.

Verdict

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