Slow West

source: Slow West

"What's the point in dying if nobody knows your dead? Same goes for killing." Jay Cavendish (Smit-McPhee) wants nothing other than to get back to the woman he loves. In 19th century America traveling across the prairie is dangerous so he enlists the help of the mysterious Silas Selleck (Fassbender). Together they traverse the dangerous open plains in hopes of reaching their final destination, alive and together. In the last few years westerns have been nothing but cheesy B-movies that are hard to watch. This one has great acting which lifts the film from a B movie to a real movie. On the other hand the movie is very slow moving and difficult to get into. This movie had glimpses of Seraphim Falls and other movies like that, but there was no real character development which made the movie lack emotion for me. This may be a movie that many people like and I am way off on according to them, but for me the great acting only took the movie so far. Overall, worth watching for the acting, but a struggle to get through. I give it a C+.

Supposedly set in Colorado Rockies. What immediately strikes you are all the reality incongruities such as, 1. Traveling alone across the vast Midwest and West. 2. Doing so with few provisions, especially water. 3. Sleeping at night with little protection such as a fire (not just embers) with just street clothing then resting his head directly on the ground. (Creepy crawlies - attack!) 4. No matter how vast the wilderness our traveler coincidentally happens, and nicely spaced apart, upon a Native camp (they seem to ignore him as he passes through); bad guys; three afro-Caribbean singers just sitting and singing; a bad guy to ride along for protection; more bad guys; and more bad people; finally the long lost sweetheart he is traveling to find. 5. Why is the Fintage Collection Agency listed in the credits? No money to pay people? 6. What few sets there were looked flimsy and newly manufactured. Joins the recent spate of American Westerns not filmed/produced in America. This is a New Zealand production mostly filmed in N.Z. If American Western is what you are looking for I suggest, and coincidentally both are produced filmed overseas, is "The Salvation" mostly Danish and filmed in South Africa. The other is "The Dark Valley" an Austrian-German production filmed in Austria.

I was really looking forward to this movie and was left severely disappointed when I came around to watching it. The film is very slow (the title should have been an indicator) and the plot is very basic and can be explained in a minute or two. The music is also a huge turn-off for me. There are serious moments in the film that are scored by the up-beat theme and this detracts from the overall tone. The film simply does not know when to be serious and when to be funny. Apart from one scene within the first 25 minutes, this film has very few reasons to be seen. Avoid at all costs!

Just a quick review here, Slow West is one of those Indie films in redbox I have wanted to catch up with before I do my best films of 2015 so far. Anything with Michael Fassbender in it is worth seeing and am also a big fan of the always gruesome Ben Mendelsohn. Violence is present throughout. Slow West is an unusual Western about a young Scottish man/boy, Jay (Kodi Smit-McPhee), who is in love and due to a tragedy that he claims to be his fault, his love had to flee to the West. On his way to the west Jay has a run in with some men having a "hunting party" for Indians. At gunpoint and not knowing what to do, Jay is rescued? by Fassbender's character, Silas. They agree to a deal where Silas will protect and lead him to the West for a hundred dollars. Along the way the audience learns that Silas is truly just using Jay in a diabolic way, and that Jay's love Rose and her dad, have a $2,000 bounty on their bodies and Silas wants to collect. On their way, encounters with Bandits and people of many kinds are frequent. Silas also learns a lot about Jay and sometimes seems to becoming fond of him but you are never really sure if Silas is using or helping Jay. Narrating, Silas says about Jay "That kid was a wonder. He saw things differently. To him, we were in a land of hope and good will." The uncertain relationship and even at times, a seeming mentor-ship between Silas and Jay is a component in Slow West that outright works. Will Silas help Jay save his gal or will Jay unknowingly lead Silas to his gal? Slow West is propelled by its great characters and cast. First time writer and director John Maclean has full control of this film and while it may be too slow for some, he succeeds in getting the audience to its inevitable finale caring about the characters and their fates. Overall throughout the film I was only mildly compelled by Slow West and without the intriguing characters, I would of been uninterested. That's what Fassbender and McPhee are their for, tremendously portrayals of their well written characters. While Slow West will most likely miss my top 5 of 2015 so far list, it was an interesting and different look into the West. Hold on and focus on the characters to get you to the extremely effective and absorbing ending.

Slow West--Riding without a Cause Slow West is a new film featuring Michael Fassbender. And yes, you smart readers, it's a Western. It hits all the benchmarks of a Western horse movie: a stranger new to the West, an outlaw of questionable character, a bounty hunters, really bad outlaws, an outpost, and a few Native Americans and others. However, they have little to do with the action. One character is looking for his true love. We forgive him, for he is young. The other character, a wishy washy anti-hero bounty hunter, is 'helping' this young man. It's interesting, and the visual are out of Wyeth painting, but it's hard to care much. We don't know why characters turn, we don't understand why the family has a bounty on their head, we don't get enough back story. While I know we are sophisticated movie goers in the 21st Century, we still like to see the motives for our characters, what drives them, what leads them to act as they do. There isn't enough exposition. There was certainly time in this lovely 90 minute film to let us in on the secrets of the characters. Top stars: the music and the cinematography. It looks and sounds delicious. The acting is okay, but not spectacular. However, the main problem was with the writing. The story just wasn't compelling enough. It would have also helped if the film featured a really nasty villain, not just a nebulous undefined band of loons. Westerns benefit from good villains and clear motives, two things Slow West is lacking. Rating: Matinée It is entertaining enough and there are enough plot twists to recommend this film. Go to the theaters just to see the wonderful photography. Peace, Tex Shelters

Fable: "a short tale to teach a moral." In this case we clearly have echoes of Cervantes: a Don Quixote idealist (McPhee) paired with a Sancho Panza realist (Fassbender) in search of Dulcinea (Pistorius), who may not exist -- at least, as they imagine her. Fables don't require complexity of character, and these are pretty much one dimensional. Two things stood out for me: (1) Fassbender's performance: so at ease, so natural; it made me realize how he's been wasted. We should see him far more often. And (2) New Zealand added a wonderful, dream-like otherness. Who is telling this story? The voice-over purports to be the Realist/Fassbender. But the camera, the scenery, and the music express everything from the POV of the idealist/McPhee. What's going on? I think that Fassbender's character, as he tells the tale, tries to put himself into the character of the kid, and, as realists will do, he exaggerates the kid's simplicity and naivety. Maybe that's why so much of the dialogue comes off as Becketlike hokum. Unfortunately, the effect is to lose the audience. The young man was played so dumb I lost any sympathy for him. But maybe that was the point. In one scene, he is shaved by Silas (Fassbender). For a few moments he looks like a more mature person. He is about to become a man., But half way through they are interrupted and he doesn't make it. Presumably sentimental innocence can never grow up. The narrative structure explained some other oddities, particularly in the case of the Girl/Pistorius. In the young man's remembrance she's presented as a romantic idol. But there's a hint of a different reality when she declares to him that he is "like a little brother," On the strength of this questionable sentiment, though, he journeys all the way to the West. But how does the narrator know this? Is he reconstructing from the kid's narrative and from what the girl may have told him later? Incidentally, that's probably why the background story set in Scotland is so sketchy. When we see her through the Silas' eyes, though, she's the opposite of conventionally "domestic": she can shoot a rifle but she can't figure out how keep butter from melting:. Is Silas a reliable narrator? I think he really killed the kid, and probably the other suitor as well. The Moral: the Realist, not the idealist, gets the Girl.

Slow West tells the story of Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a naive and courageous kid who embarks on a dangerous journey to the West, determined to find his love, a beautiful young woman, Rose (Caren Pistorius). He meets and accepts the guidance of Silas (Michael Fassbender), a laid-back gunslinger versed in the ways of the West. Jay, an idealist and a neophyte to the perils of the wilderness, illustrates a touching contrast between his educated, delicate nature and the wickedness around him. The director (John Maclean) controls and carefully addresses all his characters, adds purpose and exquisite emotion, portraying the fragile yet ambitious Jay in a story set with a glance of surrealism. It is not a typical action-packed western, but it is a treat with its stunning cinematography, framing intimate and colorful scenes, both subtle and vivid comical situations and characters, a well-paced feel-good experience.

Slow West may live up to it's title but it also proves that a slow pace does not mean it can't be action laced, fun and exciting. Michael Fassbender does an old school style western that reminds me of Eastwood in his glory days. He portrays a man helping a boy from Scotland find his sweetheart who had to skip the country and head to America's West. The movie was visually stunning as the filmmaker used a lot of cool camera tricks to make the Frontier look like colorful art work. Went to see the movie cause Michael Fassbender was in it and I got real nervous as the picture started and I realized how slow it was going, but even though the pace staid slow the energy of the movie does not. Slow west is filled with all the good stuff you loved, with Michael Fassbender playing the anti hero and Ben Mendelsohn playing the colorful villain. Even the fact that it was shot beautifully in New Zealand is a homage to the old school westerns that were shot in Italy. Nothing but cool.

Beautiful to look at but shallow character development. Working from back to forward. At the ending I feel it would have much more gripping had I knew and felt for the characters more. A lot of what would have been emotional attachment to the story was left on the table by only hinting at the plot line. At one point I didn't know if they ALL weren't out for the money. The journey (and that's all it was) ended with an explosion of events that seem to come before the story was finished telling itself. What would drive a 16 year old to travel across the world, risk his life and go through that for a girl? I don't know... Its only lightly touched on therefore the movie has little emotional pull. The story progression was lacking but the cinematography and quirky scenes leave hope for next time.