Slow West (2015) Reviews

• Aptly Named and Surreal

  SLUGMagazineFilms2015-01-30

  In what may be one of the most aptly-named films at this year's festival, Slow West is in no hurry to tell the story of Scotsman Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and his continent-spanning quest to find Rose (Caren Pistorius), the long-lost love from his hometown. Things get complicated when a desperado named Silas Selleck (Michael Fassbender) decides to accompany Cavendish on his journey—possibly to cash in on a bounty that hangs over Rose's head. Taking a cue from neo-westerns like Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man, Slow West uses the chaotic landscape of the American frontier as an allegorical exploration of love and death. There is something surreal about seeing the old west interpreted through the lens of New Zealand where the film was shot, and it added to the story's dreamlike tone. The immensely watchable Fassbender exudes some serious Han Solo vibes as he guides Cavendish through the unforgiving wilderness while trying to act like he doesn't give a crap. McPhee's boyish, innocent appearance is ideal for a character whose belief in true love has guided him so far into the lions' den. While the film's ending is sure to polarize audiences, it was a ballsy way to emphasize the point that the frontier was an ecosystem all its own, indiscriminately filling some hearts with purpose and others with bullets.

• A wry exploration of the human condition.

  padwoir2015-07-14

  This is my first review, I wanted to save it for a movie that I was touched by and one that gave me something I didn't expect, in essence a film that gave me everything that I thought it wouldn't. Slow West magnificently portrays the human condition, with all it's defects and strengths. It rather wonderfully and in a very subtle way exposes it's capacity for love and betrayal, loyalty and mistrust, fear and courage. It reveals to us that desperate good people do terrible things to survive in hard times, how hard bitten and essentially broken souls have the means and wherewithal to do good and be forgiving. It shows how we can be innocent and naive and yet still be able to teach, how we can be overly aggressive and yet protective, greedy yet also so very giving. The true wonder of this film is to me is that it exposes to us that all of us can be all of the above at some point in our lives, that we all have the capacity for evil or good and sometimes it is only circumstance that turns us either onto or away from a particular path. It's theme to me is the delicate balance between success and death in the American west during that period from the standpoint of choices made, and to my mind I think it succeeds in portraying this exceptionally well. Many of the reviews I have read on here in regards to this film say it is far too slow, I don't think it is at all, it is a journey, a gradual layering of the story building to a climax, it is not supposed to be action and bells and whistles from the off, I think it is a film that ultimately is trying to make you think; you are invited to explore who we are and what we are capable of as humans in hostile conditions. The performances are excellent all round, the thoroughly underrated Ben Medelsohn particularly as the 'realist' outlaw and Michael Fassbender who commands the screen in all his scenes, as he so often does. I think the writing of the dialogue is fantastic and nuanced, the humour dry and cleverly interspersed and the attention to period detail almost faultless. My only gripe is that there are a couple of scenes that don't seem to fit the narrative, maybe that is what slows this film down for some. I understand that that this kind of western or period drama for that matter is not to everyones taste, that for many 'action' is the byword by which these films stand or fall, well to that I say to each their own. If however you are keen to watch a movie that attempts to reflect back to you just what it means to be a person with all a persons flaws, and how circumstance can shape us into the judged or judgemental, then this very well may be a worthwhile watch for you.

• I just loved it!

  annmoore2015-06-25

  Many of the reviews here seem to be written by contributors who take their cinema VERY seriously (not that there's anything wrong with that, as Jerry Seinfeld would say!). However, my take on Slow West is that I just loved it. It was a beautiful story with a great ending and it was a pleasure to see it all condensed into 84 minutes and not follow the new 'value for money' 3 hour epic scenario that a lot of films seem to be going for these days. All of the actors were superb and I loved the occasional quirky characters that showed up, especially the Congolese trio singing away in the middle of nowhere! So, in my humble opinion, Slow West is a good traditional enjoyable Western movie and that's it!

• The Western love child of Wes Anderson and the Coens.

  Ser_Stephen_Seaworth2015-04-08

  The first thing I noticed about Slow West is how much better Michael Fassbender's American accent has improved, especially in comparison to his drawl in 12 Years a Slave. There are still traces of his foreign heritage in his voice, but he's got the cadence and timbre of it down-pat here, which is certainly a boon here, as he also adopts the role of narrator in writer/director John Maclean's tough yet quietly funny romp through the frontier. Why is it tough? Because Maclean doesn't hesitate in showing that the West was unforgiving; people die with almost alarming suddenness and violence, and not a single one of them gets a languishing death soliloquy. It's all a great shock to young Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit- McPhee), a Scottish émigré who ventured out West not to seek fame or fortune, but rather the love of his life, who fled their homeland after an accident Jay feels responsible for. Jay, the upper-crust scion of a well-to-do family, is unprepared for the harshness of the climate, and the opening credits have barely begun to roll before he's looking down the barrel of a gun. It's only by the grace of God and the quick reflexes of gunslinger Silas (Fassbender) that Jay gets out unscathed. Silas, a gruff and opportunistic sort, takes the job of "chaperoning" Jay through the territory, ostensibly to make an easy buck—but there are truer, darker intentions lurking within him. See, Silas is a bounty hunter, and his target happens to be one John Ross (Rory McCann) and his daughter Rose (Caren Pistorius), the latter of whom happens to be Jay's inamorata. Neglecting to mention that his beloved is a wanted fugitive with a $2,000 price tag on her head, Silas tries to instill Jay with enough street smarts to get him through the journey. Unfortunately, some lessons take more quickly and harshly than others. And yet, the film has a light touch of humor to it that, when paired with the frank grimness of the West, works wonders. Maclean peppers the film with sublime sight gags and, in one instance, an outlaw's recollection of a former colleague's disappointment at not having his own wanted poster that could've come right out of the works of Mark Twain. Maclean's film also owes a debt, I feel, to True Grit; the two films feel like they could be spiritual twins. Unlike most of the genre, Slow West doesn't revel in the wide-open Leone-esque expanses of the frontier. Instead, it's squared off in a narrow frame by cinematographer Robbie Ryan, giving it a more intimate flair. Nevertheless, the film is quite lovely to look at. The color palette is striking and, if I didn't know better, I'd have thought Wes Anderson had decided to saddle up for a Western. Certain shots pop, like young Jay wading through the ashen remains of an Indian camp or of a character being abandoned in the desolate prairie with nothing but his longjohns and a blanket. Smit-McPhee, quickly proving himself to be able to transition from his child actor years to adulthood, stands his ground admirably in the part. He also has a skill with silent comedy; most of the audience's guffaws came at Jay's befuddled reactions. Fassbender, who I feel works best when he isn't trying to crank up the intensity, feels very relaxed, giving perhaps his best performance in years. The bulk of the film focuses on just these two actors, although occasionally they share screen time with some colorful characters, including Ben Mendelsohn as a wily, cigar-chewing outlaw. Mendelsohn has been a personal casting choice for a Blood Meridian adaptation, and this would make a hell of an audition reel for it. Despite its humor, Slow West does have an air of solemnity to it. There is the air of lost love, and not just in Jay's desperate struggle to reunite with Rose. There is also a somber sense of loss for that world. In one crucial scene, Jay meets a German anthropologist out in the wilderness, who openly laments the oncoming extinction of the native tribes in the area and the damages of white expansionism. At one point, the man smiles forlornly and says, "In a short time, this will seem like a long time ago." That line, more than any other moment in the film, lingers in the mind.

• An accomplished and satisfying directorial debut

  rogerdarlington2015-06-28

  Don't be misled by the title: this western may start slowly but sure picks up pace with an explosive finale and, while it is set in 1870 Colorado, it is shot in today's New Zealand. Like the twice-made western "True Grit", the story teams a younger person on a search with a cynical veteran: on this occasion 16 year old aristocratic and Scottish Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee), searching for his lost love, and the rough, middle-aged, Irish gunslinger Silas Selleck (a superb Michael Fassbender), seeking something more pecuniary. First-time writer and director British John Maclean has crafted an admirable film with atmospheric music, fine pacing, colourful characters, terrific scenery and a compelling narrative. By turns touching, surreal and shocking, at just 84 minutes, every scene counts and drives the story westwards and onwards to a satisfying conclusion.