Slow West

Plot synopsis:
Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a young man from Scotland traveling through the United States in search of his love, Rose Ross (Caren Pistorius). On his journey, he comes by the woods near a Native American camp where a group of union officers are chasing after a Native American. Two run off and chase the man, and gunshots are heard. A bandit named Silas Selleck (Michael Fassbender) shows up with a gun aimed at the one officer. Jay holds his gun up to Silas, but Silas still shoots the officer. He and Jay then join forces and travel together.Through some flashbacks, we see Jay and Rose spending time together back in Scotland, rolling down a hill near a beach. He was very much in love with her, while she only saw him as a brother, something that troubled him.Jay and Silas ride through a field where three Congolese men are playing a song about love. Jay tells one of the men that he likes the song, and he notes that "love is universal like death". Following closeby are a group of bounty hunters, led by Payne (Ben Mendelsohn). The two ride by a shop where Silas sees a wanted poster for both Rose and her father John (Rory McCann), offering a $2,000 reward if they're caught dead. Everybody but Jay knows about it. The two enter the shop to gather some items. After them enters a Swedish couple, Johan and Maria (Karl Willetts and Brooke Williams). Johan raises his gun to the shopkeeper, demanding money even though the shopkeeper insists that this shop would be the only place he could spend money. The shopkeeper shoots Johan in the chest, and Maria shoots the shopkeeper dead. She aims at Silas, also demanding money. Jay shoots her in the back. He and Silas leave with their items until they see two children, Eva and Jan (Evie and George Simon). Figuring he just killed their mother, Jay leave the children with his items.In another flashback, right after Rose tells Jay that he is like her brother, she tells him to hide under the bed. He stays there for hours as John has company over. Jay's uncle Rupert (Alex MacQueen) shows up and tries taking Jay back, dismissing everyone in the house as peasants. Jay says he is with Rose now. Rupert slaps Rose, prompting John to retaliate by shoving Rupert backwards and causing him to smash his head against a rock, killing him. This leads to John and Rose becoming outlaws.Shortly after the incident, Jay makes it to the U.S. and encounters a clergyman named Angus (Tony Croft). He says he is documenting the downfall of the Aboriginal tribe and hoping to spread Christianity. Jay asks Angus for advice. The next morning, Jay wakes up alone to nothing but an egg resting on a note that says "West". He then breaks the egg open and lets the yolk fall out.Jay and Silas bond as the latter guides the boy to his destination. Silas shaves Jay's face with his knife while Jay tells Silas that he is a lonely man. Payne walks out from behind a tree with a bottle and some glasses. He joins the two at their camp site, and he asks Jay knowingly if he is traveling to find his sweetheart. At night, Silas and Payne discuss the bounty on John and Rose, with Payne trying to get a word out of Silas after getting him drunk. Silas was part of Payne's gang, but he left after deciding that he is not like Payne. Silas knows nothing and wouldn't tell Payne anything if he did.When Jay wakes up, he sees Silas and Payne are both gone. He comes across Payne's group, who have Eva and Jan with them. Jay sits with them around the fire as one of the bounty hunters tells a story about a man he killed.Jay finds Silas in the woods. Silas tries to get him to stop his pursuit of Rose, but Jay insists that she is his. They fall asleep and wake up to the pouring rain, almost submerging them and their items. They dry off in the morning and see more bounty hunters. This forces Silas to come clean to Jay about the bounty on Rose and her father.We see John and Rose living in a cabin, miles from anywhere else. They have a Native American helper, Kotori (Kalani Queypo). A man visits them, knowing who Rose is, leading her to get worried, but John insists that nobody there knows who they are.Silas ties Jay to a tree to prevent him from going to save Rose. He rides toward their house, just as Payne and his gang do. They initiate a shootout, with John being the first one killed. Rose stands her ground to defend herself against the hail of bullets. Silas shows up, not wanting to kill Rose. He gets hit in the shoulder and leg, but he remains alive. Jay breaks himself free from the tree and runs to the house. Without warning, he enters and startles Rose, causing her to shoot him in the chest. She continues to defend herself, while Kotori rushes to her side to help her. At one point, a bullet hits a jar of salt and causes it to spill on Jay's bullet wound. The bounty hunters, and even Kotori, are killed, until Payne is the only one left. Rose walks over to Jay's side, unaware until now that she just killed him. She gives him her gun to shoot Payne as he enters the house. Silas then comes in as Jay dies. He tells Rose that Jay loved her. She says his heart was in the wrong place. Silas says his spirit wasn't.Later on, Rose appears to adopt Eva and Jan. Silas continues living, never forgetting Jay or what he stood for.

Tags: violence, murder, flashback

Review:
In what may be one of the most aptly-named films at this year's festival, Slow West is in no hurry to tell the story of Scotsman Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and his continent-spanning quest to find Rose (Caren Pistorius), the long-lost love from his hometown.
Taking a cue from neo-westerns like Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man, Slow West uses the chaotic landscape of the American frontier as an allegorical exploration of love and death.
It's theme to me is the delicate balance between success and death in the American west during that period from the standpoint of choices made, and to my mind I think it succeeds in portraying this exceptionally well.Many of the reviews I have read on here in regards to this film say it is far too slow, I don't think it is at all, it is a journey, a gradual layering of the story building to a climax, it is not supposed to be action and bells and whistles from the off, I think it is a film that ultimately is trying to make you think; you are invited to explore who we are and what we are capable of as humans in hostile conditions.
Like the twice-made western "True Grit", the story teams a younger person on a search with a cynical veteran: on this occasion 16 year old aristocratic and Scottish Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee), searching for his lost love, and the rough, middle-aged, Irish gunslinger Silas Selleck (a superb Michael Fassbender), seeking something more pecuniary.
Simple western scenarios are spun in a different manner because the characters in said situations aren't made for the brutal western lifestyle.In an era of film where westerns have become a thing of the past (though they seem to be making a comeback), Slow West is one of the better westerns to come along in quite a long time.
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..
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.
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.
The story, which was written by Maclean, follows the journey of a 16 year old boy named Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) who has traveled from Scotland to the West in search of Rose (Caren Pistorius), the woman he's in love with.
It's the kind of thing only the most competent of filmmakers could get away with, and MacLean absolutely nails it.But despite MacLean's prowess as a writer and director, Slow West ultimately succeeds on the strength of its cast, with Smit-McPhee as the wide-eyed innocent and Fassbender as the grizzled, trail-weary wanderer.
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.
Following a couple of successful shorts working with Michael Fassbender, Man on a Motorcycle (2009) and Pitch Black Heist (2011), director John Maclean from The Beta Band makes his feature- length debut with Slow West, a suitably slow-burning and simple tale of lost love, set to the backdrop of violence and a country in unrest.Scot Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is an opportunistic young dreamer who arrives in America in the hope of claiming his lost love.
The decision to film in New Zealand adds to the sense of displacement, as if Jay imagined the world he read about in stories only to discover that it's only half-true.Although the film is as slow-moving as the title may suggest, the relatively short running time means that the pace is brisk and the narrative is never boring.
Splendidly photographed, methodically paced & brilliantly directed, Slow West arrives as a pleasant surprise in the genre of westerns for it features a very straightforward premise but beneath that simple-looking plot lies hordes of themes that one usually associates with the legacy of the Wild West and for a debut feature, it's a pretty impressive final product.Set in the 1870s, the story of Slow West follows a young Scottish fellow who travels across America in pursuit of the woman he loves and after an unexpected incident, finds himself in the company of a bounty hunter who's willing to take him to his destination.
Its 84 minutes of runtime is deliberately slowed down to provide a more immersive experience, and finally, the background score stays in congruence with the unfolding action.Coming to the performances, Slow West features a fine cast in Kodi Smit-McPhee, Michael Fassbender, Ben Mendelsohn, Caren Pistorius & Rory McCann, and all do an adequate job in their given roles.
Fassbender is the real deal and does a terrific job with what he's given, and the input from the rest of its cast is good enough.On an overall scale, Slow West is definitely amongst the better indie films released this year and begins Maclean's filmmaking career on a promising note.
Slow West stars Kodi Smit-McPhee as the naïve, Scottish, Jay. We follow him on a journey across the American frontier in search of his sweetheart, Rose.
It's got some familiar tropes - greenhorn, grizzled bounty hunter, deadly gang et al, but Maclean has still made a fresh picture, one that not only intrigues and excites, but also humours by way of some black comedy inserts.Essentially it's a travelogue piece, McPhee's lovelorn Jay Cavendish ends up being escorted on his journey by Fassbender's mysterious tough guy Silas Selleck.
Western fans keen of ear will pick up on some historically spiky dialogue exchanges, whilst also noting the nods towards the immigration angles, where Maclean doesn't pull punches as to how desperate the Old West was for many of those who travelled hoping for a better life.Predominantly filmed in New Zealand (superbly standing in for the American West), the panoramic cinematography is stunning, while it's great to see the backdrops are not just mountainous desert scapes, this journey goes through forestry as well.
With blurring convention subversions and inversions, a slow but fast tempo, and unexpected flashes of absurdity and violence, it's a fantastical world meticulously designed to surprise you when you least expect whilst simultaneously reminding you of its unforgiving desolation and desperation.Even if you're not a fan of Westerns, you'll be a fan of this one.Scottish aristocrat Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is in the midst of first love; so bewitched that he decides to abandon his birth right and all that he knows (at the tender of 16) in search of his Rose (Caren Pistorius) who has fled to the American frontier with her crofter father (Rory McCann) after a deadly accident on the Cavendish estate.The film begins with stargazing as a voice-over by one Silas Selleck (Michael Fassbender), imparts the basics of an amplified and unrequited love story between Jay and Rose.
What he fails to reveal in a stilted manner that would have made John Wayne proud, is the news that a bounty has been issued for Rose and her father to the tune of $2,000 dead or alive and that a number of iniquitous opportunists are also hot on the trail.Set during the end of the 19th Century and with naïve determination, an over-laden horse, trusty teapot and a guidebook to surviving the west in hand, Jay embarks on his ill-fated journey alone until he is quickly confronted by a showdown between Indian hunters and their prey.
Slow West follows the story of 16-year-old Jay Cavendish as he journeys across a 19th century frontier to find the woman he loves, while accompanied by a mysterious traveler named Silas.
Going back to the disjointed manner it follows the exploits of young immigrant Jay Cavindish who travels through 1870s America in order to meet fellow Scot immigrant Rose Ross and he meets many colourful characters but very few of these characters have anything to do with the plot and you could re-edit this film in any random order and it wouldn't make much difference to the story Another peculiar aspect is casting Kodi Smit McPhee as Jay .
There is also a large helping of "True Grit" to its plot with young greenhorn Kodi Smit-McPhee journeying West in the company of bounty hunter and killer Michael Fassbender in search of his true love, encountering other bounty hunters, outlaws and Indians on the way.Dialogue is sparse and poetical with both Smit-McPhee and Fassbender acting as our narrators, very much in the style of early Malick while the film is as visually gorgeous and as inventive as anything in the Malick oeuvre, (the DoP is Robbie Ryan).
This one is no different.Slow paced as the title suggests, Slow West is a bizarre, captivating, funny, touching and violent Western road trip that confirms John Maclean as a big talent.British director and writer John Maclean, through the eyes of naive dreamer Jay, tells a beautiful story, with a memorable ending, about the violence in the New World, cynicism, and money rush that involves everybody, both natives and immigrants.
Balancing life and death tension with laugh out loud comedic elements requires a deft touch, and Maclean proves his mettle.Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road, Let Me In) stars as Jay Cavendish a young Irish man traveling westward across the old west Colorado frontier to find his true love Rose (Caren Pistorius).
It has a deliberate screenplay that focuses on few characters at a time and calmly set the tone for western thriller.Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a man searching for his lost love.
If some folks were looking for a mindless bloodbath where a merciless hero spits on the villain's grave, they got the wrong ticket.This picture is a beauty; stunning landscapes, good music and pretty realistic (if you compare it with the ton of cartoonish westerns out there).It's not very often that you finish a western feeling uplifted, Slow West is a hell of a great movie, incredible that it is a first director's cut.
2015 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL: Scottish director John Maclean mimics the heart and charisma of the old western with his feature film debut "Slow West" starring Kodi Smit-McPhee and Academy Award nominee Michael Fassbender."Slow West" tells the story of Jay Cavendish (played by Smit- McPhee), a Scottish aristocrat that travels to Colorado in search of his love Rose (played exquisitely by Caren Pistorius).
Admittedly I am not really big on Westerns in general and this one didn't turn me into a fan that's for sureIt's listed as an Action Thriller Western but to call this an action movie is reaching, sure it ends with the typical Western shoot out but the first hour is pretty darn slowKodi Smit McPhee who was excellent in YOUNG ONES (2014) has a little charisma but he's supposed to play a Scottish kid and most time he doesn't even appear to try to put on a Scottish accent (I should know, I've lived in Scotland for a year)Michael Fassbender doesn't seem to commit to his role fully either, pulling off a very generic American accent at that (but not typical Southern for some reason) but at least it was better than the Swedes in the movieMaybe I've spent a little too much speaking about accents but really there's not a whole lot to talk about regarding this movie; the whole movie feels like a teenagers idea of what the "wild west" was like with plenty of plot holes and undeveloped characters to put it short the movie is not all that exciting with very few positives I'd give it a 4.5/10, at least it was mercifully short roughly 79 minutes without the credits.
Starring Michael Fassbender ("12 Years a Slave") and Kodi Smit-McPhee ("Dawn of the Planet of the Apes"), Slow West is a serious look at the plight of mistreated Native Americans and the dreams of youth, a buddy picture and a road movie filled with adventure and a meaningful message, but also replete with cruelty and protracted violence and the blackest of humor, sometimes delivered at inappropriate moments.Like Jim Jarmusch's 1995 revisionist Western, "Dead Man," Slow West has the quality of a dream, poetic and beautiful, almost other-worldly, yet filled with an unmistakable sadness and a desperate loneliness, the flip side of the myth of the heroic pioneer: Brave, determined, and fiercely independent.
In the words of archaeologist Katherine Routledge, "Everywhere is the wind of heaven; round and above all are boundless sea and sky, infinite space and a great silence." When the film opens, as a dreamy-eyed young man points his gun at a kaleidoscope of stars in the distant sky, each star seems to light up.Only sixteen, Jay Cavendish (Smit-McPhee), has traveled from Scotland in pursuit of an idealistic romance with Rose Ross (Caren Pistorius, "The Most Fun You Can Have Dying") who is on the run with her father John (Rory McCann, "Clash of the Titans") after a murder in Scotland.
Made in New Zealand's amazing landscape it resemble an american west territory, the director provides a colorful amazing scenes,the plot in quite original at least, but there so many holes along of the movie that spoil clearly that made some damages without repair as the new brand house,could they made some kind of greying in the woods, some lines spoken poetically are unusual in such period of time, the Angel's face boy contrast with ruthless bounty hunter, l've trying figure out among the clues left behind, a beautiful movie notwithstanding cruel scenes worth to spend one hour and half watching an original neo western!!Resume:First watch: 2018 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.
"Love like death is essential" - Jay Cavendish Walking into the cinema...Michael Fassbender and Ben Mendelsohn in a western makes this film tantalising.
'SLOW WEST': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)A western/coming-of-age tale; about a 16-year-old Scottish boy, traveling across 19th century America, in search of the woman he loves.
16 year old Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is alone leaving Scotland to chase after his love Rose Ross (Caren Pistorius) into the American West.
Smit-McPhee is, without realizing it, acting the part of "dairy boy who fails to stand up to gruesome ranch boss" and not Maclean's supposed transcontinental 'Jock.'Michael Fassbender performs a perfect Western genre co-leading role as Jay's travel companion and foil, "Silas." Fassbender is a fine actor, and his movement and looks lend themselves well to cowboy stuff.
Slow West stars Kodi Smith-McPhee and Michael Fassbender and its the story of Jay, and how he tries to reunite with his loved one Rose, and Silas tags along his journey.
Slow West follows Jay (Kodi Smit- McPhee), a Scottish native who has come to America in search of his beloved Rose.
Old West is a movie that is very much a love letter to the western genre of film.
In the Anti-Tradition of "Bone Tomahawk" (2015), first time Director MacLean makes No Bones about this being an Off-Kilter and Out of Step take on the Genre and delivers a Distinctively Different Tale of Traveling Men on a Torturous Journey.Michael Fassbender and His Star Power might get Fans to give this one a Look, and that's a Good Thing because this is a B-Picture that is an Off-Beat Treat for Seekers of the Unusual and Lovers of "Film as Art".Kodi Smit-McPhee (what a name) plays a Character that is Certainly Out of His Element in the Dirty and Unforgiving Setting, wearing a Suit and His Education quite well.
Slow West is a story about a young man wanting to reunite with his long love but has to travel long ways to do it in 19th century western America.
So Kodi Smit-McPhee, playing the young and inexperienced Jay, comes across Silas, played by Michael Fassbender and they each take on the journey to find his love, Rose.Of course, once you find out more about Rose and her father, the film gets a whole lot more interesting.
It's great to see the background of the Wild West used in such a way that it is here and while it would've been nice as mentioned for the film to actually legitimately feel like a "western," it's always refreshing to see up and coming directing talents make use of their talents in ways that we don't expect.The tale of young and in love Jay Cavendish (played by the in-and-out-of-Scottish-accent sporting Australian Kodi-Smit McPhee) and his travels in the dangerous wilds of the West, looking for the love of his life Rose Ross, plays out in a non-confirmative way that is unafraid to be both blunt and quirky not to mention Coen-esque in the way its characters appear and disappear within the story.