Andrew reviews this year's western entry, Slow West.
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| "Little does she know we're riding her to the White Castle processing plant." |
Literal and figurative, Slow West lives up to its promise of a slow burn across the rugged
desert terrain while also providing a fresh, emotional and oddly brisk take on
the western genre. Epic in scope yet
precise in focus on its characters, the 1870 period piece concerns a young man
named Jay (Kodi Smit-McPhee) on a sojourn through Colorado in the American west
in search of his long lost love Rose Ross (Caren Pistorius). Along the way he encounters an outlaw named
Silas Selleck (producer and star Michael Fassbender) who becomes something of a
father figure to the lad. Their slow
careen across the open plains and canyons soon entangle them with Silas’ former
employer Payne (Ben Mendelsohn from Lost
River) and the once quiet western gradually evolves into a tense noir of
bloodletting, betrayal and broken hearts.
Modestly paced with subtle buildup tempered by a
distinctly modern sensibility, Slow West evokes
the vastness of Sergio Leone, the abrupt violence of Sam Peckinpah and an
eccentric hint of the Coen brothers thrown in.
Watching the film I was reminded of the achingly beautiful panoramas and
subtle drive of The Assassination of
Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, both from a cinematographic and
narrative standpoint.
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| "Why do I always have to play a creep?!" |
While undoubtedly
a period drama, Slow West isn’t
always told like one and the precise framing of characters in medium close ups
calls into question what a western by David Cronenberg might have looked
like. In terms of performances, Michael
Fassbender is clearly the film’s anchor and morally complex drifter to rally
behind. Equally strong and always cast
in the role of a slime bag is Ben Mendelsohn, who makes a worthy successor to
Eric Roberts for how easily the man can project serpentine villainy.
Slow
West
serves as both an ode to a subgenre of snail paced burns through the gravel and
dust of the old west and purporting its own unique spin on the material. As a debut for first time director John
Maclean, it’s a handsome effort with lush vistas recalling John Ford’s The Searchers and at times the startling
violence of Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s
Gate. Yes it tells a conventional
story which has been done to death but is told in an interesting and largely
pretty fashion. Some might be put off by
the films leisurely pacing while others can’t help but soak in the atmosphere
of the landscape and period. Overall
it’s a solid western with just enough defining characteristics and precise framing
to set itself apart from the pack. In an
era where the western action film can so easily look and feel just like the
last one, there’s something to be said for a first timer making an otherwise
interchangeable subgenre new and engaging for the casual viewer. As a fan of western noir anyway, Slow West is one of the better ones to
come around in a while.
-Andrew Kotwicki