John Maclean (director)
Lionsgate (studio)
15 (certificate)
84 mins (length)
26 June 2015 (released)
25 June 2015
Slow West is the first feature film from Scottish director, John Maclean, of Beta Band fame. It is a western that charts the adventures of a young member of the Scottish aristocracy, Jay Cavendish, as he travels to the US frontier in pursuit of his unrequited love, Rose Ross. Kodi-Smit McPhee and Caren Pistorius both impress as the young would-be couple, while Michael Fassbender provides the star quality as Jay’s outlaw companion.
The film is somewhat stylised and as such may draw some comparisons with Tarantino’s Django Django, although this would be a lazy comparison. Maclean, who also wrote the screenplay, utilises some analogously anachronistic flourishes in his dialogue and choice of shots, and the film clearly has its tongue in its cheek at certain parts, but in general it is much more reined in.
The cinematography is at times striking, yet often wisely understated, and the contrast between the scenes depicting the western landscapes of 19th century America and those set in the Scottish Highlands resulted in a very pleasing juxtaposition. Smit-McPhee continues to impress as the naïve and earnest Jay, and Michael Fassbender is as watchable as ever, although his character doesn’t achieve the iconic indelibility that he and Maclean were clearly striving for.
The film springs some surprising tonal shifts, most of which come off, and packs more substance than you might initially expect. Maclean manages to strike a nice balance between allowing his characters moments of pathos while not indulging this too much and betraying the subversive spirit of the piece.
Ultimately, I did find there to be something slight about the experience of watching the film. It is only 84 mins which is not necessarily a problem but the script could maybe have done with a bit more work. This is perhaps understandable from a debut feature, but in general the piece certainly shows a great deal of promise for the future and was highly enjoyable.