'Slow West' A Review

Slow West is a western about a teenage Scottish aristocrat who travels west through the US in search of his lost love. On his journey Jay(Kodi Smit-McPhee) encounters Silas(Michael Fassbender) a weathered bounty hunter and hires him to protect him. The duo have a number of encounters, most notably with Silas's former gang, on their way to Rose(Caren Pistorius) and her father's farm.

Shot in New Zealand the "west" has never looked so exotic or strange. The cinematography of the film is beautiful and along with many non-american actors paints a different and fresh portrait of the immigration heavy 19th century United States. The story is simple and the film short. We follow Jay after he has already reached the lawless west and his sparse back story is filled in via flashbacks. The film concludes once Jay has reached his goal. This gives the film considerable momentum and narrative satisfaction. Although Jay's journey is somewhat rambling he continues to move forward punctuated by interesting and/or bizarre interactions with the wild/desperate individuals that populate the unknown he travels through.

For the most part the performances are solid however the chemistry between the characters is somewhat lacking most notably between Jay and Silas. The two characters are suppose to go from a thin enmity to some kind of mutual respect however it is not quite earned. And although all the characters in the film are fully flushed out and alive they are lessened when they are forced to interact. They exist more successfully as ideas or archetypes a flaw that may be chalked up to this being the writer/director's first feature.

Slow West contains significant surprises and compelling subtle twists. It pays homage to the genre while also successfully inverting some of its more beleaguered tropes.

See It.