Sydney Film Festival Review: Slow West (USA, 2015)

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Slow West is the story of a young, wide-eyed Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) who undertakes a journey to find his ‘true love’, Rose (Caren Pistorius). Silas Selleck (Michael Fassbender) soon enters the picture, vowing to help him survive his journey for a small fee. Unbeknownst to Jay, a bounty has been placed on the heads of Rose and her father (Rory McCann) – a bounty that Silas plans to secretly seize. “You’re a jackrabbit in a den of wolves”, Silas explains to Jay, who soon becomes increasingly aware of his vulnerability in a world that is constantly littered with fresh corpses.

As we follow Jay’s journey, the audience is treated to all the classic elements of the Western genre; cascading landscapes, historically infused characters, and even the Western shootout. But director John McClean doesn’t let the Western dictate his content – whilst still adhering to certain rules of the genre, McClean uses typical tropes to subvert the Western genre. The consequence of this subversion proves to be one of the films real strengths – the creation of an American counterhistory. Rather than being plagued with the racism that is so prevalent within the Western genre, McClean plays on the modern in his representations of American Natives, illustrating the brutality that comes with colonisation.

This along with the cinematography makes for a real aesthetic and intellectual experience. Every single shot in this film has been thought out meticulously, taking advantage of the raw and stunning New Zealand landscapes, producing a film that would still stand strong if you were to strip away its witty and compelling dialogue.

But after the 84 minutes it took to get through Jay and Silas’ journey, I still felt hungry for more. It was as if I had visited a three-hat restaurant and ordered a main, only to realise that the size of the meal was dismal. What was on my plate was delicious, but I couldn’t help but realise that the serving needed to be three times its size in order to properly constitute a main meal.

Enough of the food metaphors. The title of the film is incredibly apt – this is definitely a slow Western. The narrative of Slow West was underwhelming; the third act (dedicated to the typical Western shootout) left me unsatisfied, as if McClean had sacrificed his own characters to adhere to a genre trope that quite frankly, did nothing for the development of the characters I had already invested in. The film consistently followed the criteria for what makes a great movie – entrancing cinematography, witty and compelling dialogue, on-point acting and costuming – yet, it fell short in not delivering a compelling enough narrative, a core component that marks the greatness of a film. Though Slow West is unshowwy and raw, it could have benefited from a little less trope adaptation and more of a cohesive storyline with characters that weren’t simply just repercussions of the Western genre.

REVIEW SCORE: THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)

Slow West premiered in Australia on the 4th of June with Sydney Film Festival. It will be part of the Sydney Film Festival Presents travelling series.

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