bob the moo
Like the title suggests, the film has a slow pace as it moves on its quest through the western landscape. The plot sees an idealistic young man seeking out his love who fled to America to escape a crime. The young man is joined by an older, more cynical man - unaware that he has joined him to use the young man to lead him to the girl and her father in order to collect the bounty on their heads. It unfolds in an episodic manner within this overall sweep.The result is a film that is engaging in the most part, has plenty of good western tropes, and is short enough not to make the slow pace hard to take. That said, it also is meandering, doesn't amount to too much, and seems more interested in the episodic oddity of itself than it does making something cohesive. I think it will depend on the individual how that works; for me personally I felt the strengths of that outweighed the weaker aspects. The tone carried it for me, although I didn't think the ending worked particularly well as part of the total package. It is beautifully filmed, which is one of the western aspects it uses. Within the landscape the cast are generally good, but it is the work from Smit-McPhee and Fassbender that makes the majority of it work. When you are with them as a viewer, the film is enjoyable and carries itself. Not a film that really hits its mark, Slow West still offers a nicely engaging slow pace which plays out with good tone and pace, even if it doesn't feel like it comes together as a whole.
Tehmeh
I like my movies simple. I like melodrama, high emotional stakes, simple revenge-fueled story lines and effective characters I can care about. But sometimes there is room for different kinds of approach, even for simple bastards like me. "Slow West" is a different one, and although it wasn't tight enough to drive home the numerous points it (probably) tried to make, I was invested in an almost passive way."Slow West" is a bit of a mess for me. In its core there is a story of desperate, naive love. It's quite innocent and it's something we've all been through. It's about a fantasy, not about pragmatic reality, and fantasies rarely have happy endings. On the other hand, this story is surrounded by bits and pieces of commentary, some about the violent invasion of the New World, some about the darkness of man's soul and other philosophical matters.Now these things aren't bad in themselves, but they seem to be scattered around without any tight emotional connection to anything else that's happening. They are mainly introduced by our protagonists running into strangers who have stories to tell, and sometimes emphasized by voice-over narration. It feels forced and this movie suffers from it. If there is an emotional payoff, the movie just wants to quickly get it over with, or convey it in a manner that doesn't really do much. In other words, this film throws things at you, at it's sometimes clumsy about it.However, there is something honest about this film. In all its weirdness and scattered narrative, it still manages enough. Director/writer John MacLean just probably didn't have the means or experience to fully deliver what he intended. It doesn't feel pretentious, it just feels a little off and perhaps a bit rushed. It still feels somewhat innocent, much like Kodi Smit-McPhee's character. I might be wrong, but at the moment I think this movie has a good heart somewhere under the clutter.Actors are fine, and nobody overacts. Perhaps most of them underact, but that's likely on purpose. Nobody steals the show, this isn't a movie where performances are emphasized but everyone does their job. Smit-McPhee is good as the naive boy chasing his dream, Fassbender's mere presence is enough and the same can be said about Ben Mendelsohn. Rory McCann was a pleasure to see, he makes everything better, including this movie. Caren Pistorius is fine with the little she has.Cinematography has some personal touches. It's not the grand spectacle of scenery and wide colourful shots some westerns can be known of, even though some of that can be found here too, but it feels a little more intimate. It's nice to look at, although not overly impressive.Transitions and editing seems to be a little hit or miss. Things don't flow in the way I'd like them to, and some emotional impact is often lost. At times it works really well, so it's hard to come to a conclusion. Music too. I do like the way how the simple main theme is almost always present and travels with us, but at times it comes across as meaningless.In the end, this is a hard movie to review, but I kind of liked it. The actors were good, there is a lovely innocent story plus a plethora of themes that don't quite connect. It's not quite an art-house movie, but for fans of traditional westerns it might as well be one. If you're looking for a tight story, engaging action, powerful characters and a rewarding ending where everything is resolved just the way you'd want, this is not the movie you want to watch. But if you're in that certain weird mood where you find yourself pondering about various things, you might like this. "Slow West" is a movie that probably has a lot to say, but doesn't always know how - or when - to say it. These movies have their place too.
alindsay-al
I do like a good western and this film has some decent actors so I thought I would give it a shot but boy this film is really bad. The premise of the film sees a young man looking for a girl with the help of a mysterious bounty hunter. Kodi- smit mcphee plays our main hero in this film and he is just very bland and dull. I get it that we are meant to feel sorry for him but I never cared about him at all throughout this entire film. Michael fassbender is one of the best actors in Hollywood and he is totally the best part of this film. He is a pretty cool bounty hunter but even he isn't given much to work with in this film. Ben mendelsohn is in this film and he does an okay job in the film even though he feels really unnecessary in this film. Everybody in this film has absolutely no development and it hurts the film so much as you don't care about anybody. The story is so dull and has no uniqueness to it, it movies really slowly and actually makes no sense. The film is just so slow and has no depth to it's plot or characters and actually becomes a bit confusing to follow. The script has no unique drama or humour in it that doesn't help make any of these characters interesting. The style of the film is very bland and It just doesn't get you excited at all. Overall I really hated this movie and if you are a fan of westerns then you should avoid this film at all cost.
