Slow West
Late, late one night…okay, it was more early, early one morning, I found myself looking for something a little out of the ordinary to watch for a review. This is, as I have complained bitterly about for most of this year, somehow more difficult during my new era of streaming. But I stumbled upon this slightly aged western, a genre I don’t often watch, and would have passed it by but noticed one of the production companies is A24. That is pretty well a guarantee of fine filmmaking so I decided to watch it. Glad I did.
The story is somewhat simple, and the trailer is downright misleading in some ways. Jay (Kodi Smit-McPhee, Elvis), a young man from Scotland, flees his homeland to travel across the vast expanse of 1870 United States looking for the young woman he loves. Rose (Caren Pistorius, Unhinged) had to hoof it west or hang for the unfortunate death of Jay’s uncle. Along the way, Jay encounters many interesting people, tableaus and violence. He is saved from being murdered by a man who agrees, for pay, to lead him to Rose. But Silas (Michael Fassbender, The Killer) doesn’t fully disclose his reason for helping Jay.
The trailer lets you think Jay knows that Silas is a bounty hunter, but he does not know and fully trusts the man who saved his life. They then take turns saving each other and a friendship slowly grows between them as Jay makes his way to Rose. They encounter a lot of interesting things, like a Creole trio of singers in the middle of nowhere. The odyssey reminded me of a little known 1970s David Carradine movie called Circle of Iron, with its odd juxtapositions of characters and events.
At the end of the movie is the obligatory shootout, and it is as violent as all the other, many, deaths that occur along the way. Like the rest of the movie, it’s beautifully shot and choreographed, emotionally charged and shocking more than a couple of times. Like the shootout at the end of Mystery Road, I had to go back and watch it a couple of times just to savor its brilliance.
Rose is Jay’s raison d’etre but doesn’t feature much in the movie. When she does become central, it’s a slam bang whirlwind and I was very impressed both with how the character is written and how the actress portrayed her. She may be young and female, but she’s tough as nails and a darned good shot. I appreciated that from the filmmakers.
Something I had never noticed in more than fifty years of watching movies and television set in The Old West became obvious after seeing this movie. Immigrating to the west is a right to left movement. There are no scenes in which Jay and Silas ride left to right, it’s always right to left. After some thought I realized it’s always been that way I just didn’t notice. I don’t know if that’s a uniquely American thing or not, but it sure is interesting.
If you’re in the mood for a western I recommend this movie. The acting is great, the writing is interesting and the violence choreography is solid. The very, very end of the movie blew me away, but that was after enjoying a couple of hours of good movie making.
Chick Flicking Reviews 