''Slow West'' is a 2015

Revisionist Western The revisionist Western (also called the anti-Western, sometimes revisionist antiwestern) is a sub-genre of the Western film. Designated a post-classical variation of the traditional Western, the revisionist subverts the myth and romance of th ...

film that was written and directed by John Maclean in his

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

. It stars

Kodi Smit-McPhee Kodi Smit-McPhee (born 13 June 1996) is an Australian actor. He gained recognition as a child actor for his leading roles in ''The Road'' (2009) and '' Let Me In'' (2010). In 2021, Smit-McPhee garnered critical acclaim for his performance as Pe ...

as a young Scotsman searching for his lost love in the

American West The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

, accompanied by a bounty hunter played by

Michael Fassbender Michael Fassbender (born 2 April 1977) is an Irish actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, and nominations for two Academy Awards, four British Academy Film Award ...

. It premiered at the

2015 Sundance Film Festival The 2015 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 22 to February 1, 2015. '' What Happened, Miss Simone?'', a biographical documentary film about American singer Nina Simone, opened the festival. Comedy-drama film '' Grandma'', directed by ...

on 24 January 2015, where it was awarded the Sundance Institute's World Cinema Jury Prize: Dramatic Winner. The film was first released on 15 May 2015 in the United States, with a simultaneous release on

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

Plot

Jay Cavendish, a young Scotsman, travels to the

to search for his love, Rose Ross. He encounters a group of men chasing a Native American. An Irish

bounty hunter A bounty hunter is a private agent working for bail bonds who captures fugitives or criminals for a commission or bounty. The occupation, officially known as bail enforcement agent, or fugitive recovery agent, has traditionally operated outsid ...

, Silas Selleck, arrives and shoots dead the leader. Jay employs the bounty hunter for protection. At a trading post, unbeknownst to Jay, Silas sees a wanted poster offering a $2,000 bounty for Rose and her father. He plans to use Jay to get to the bounty. Another bounty hunter, Victor the Hawk, also takes notice of the poster. Inside, a Swedish couple attempts a robbery which results in the death of the owner and the husband. Jay intervenes and shoots the wife. Silas and Jay gather provisions and leave, abandoning the couple's children outside. In the past, in Scotland, Rose is aware of Jay's affection, but only cares for him as a "little brother". Jay's uncle, Lord Cavendish, accidentally dies in an argument with John Ross, Rose's father. Rose and her father leave for America with the bounty on their heads. In the present, Jay abandons Silas and proceeds alone, thinking him a "brute". He meets a travelling writer, Werner, who offers to accompany Jay. When Jay wakes the next morning, Werner has left, stealing Jay's horse and equipment. Silas finds Jay and returns Jay's horse and belongings, saying he ran into Werner while looking for Jay. The pair meets Payne, the leader of Silas's old gang, which has taken in the Swedish children. Payne gives Silas and Jay

absinthe Absinthe (, ) is an anise-flavoured spirit derived from several plants, including the flowers and leaves of '' Artemisia absinthium'' ("grand wormwood"), together with green anise, sweet fennel, and other medicinal and culinary herbs. Historica ...

in a failed attempt to gather information about Rose and her father's whereabouts. While they are asleep, Silas and Jay share a dream of Silas and Rose living together with a child. They awaken to find that Payne has stolen their weapons. Silas discloses the bounty to Jay. They evade Payne's gang in a forest, where Jay is injured by Native Americans. Rose and her father live in a nearby prairie, protected by a Native American called Kotori. Victor, disguised as a priest, tracks them down and kills Rose's father. After reaching the prairie, Silas ties Jay to a tree to keep him from harm. Silas rushes to the house to warn Rose of Payne's gang but is wounded by Victor. Payne and his men murder Victor and assault the house. Jay frees himself and runs to the house. After Kotori and most of Payne's gang are murdered, Rose realizes she has shot Jay in the confusion. While she comforts him, Payne enters the house, and Jay shoots him. As he dies, Silas tells Rose that Jay loved her "with all his heart". Silas stays with Rose and the Swedish children.

Cast

as Jay Cavendish *

as Silas Selleck *

Ben Mendelsohn Paul Benjamin Mendelsohn (born 3 April 1969) is an Australian actor. He first rose to prominence in Australia for his breakout role in ''The Year My Voice Broke'' (1987) and since then he has had roles in films such as '' Animal Kingdom'' (2010) ...

as Payne *

Caren Pistorius Caren Pistorius (born 30 September 1990) is a South African-New Zealand actress. She is best known for her role as Rose in the 2015 film ''Slow West''. Early life Pistorius was born in Rustenburg, South Africa. Her family moved to Auckland, New ...

as Rose Ross *

Rory McCann Rory McCann (born 24 April 1969) is a Scottish actor, best known for portraying Sandor "The Hound" Clegane on the HBO series ''Game of Thrones'', Michael "Lurch" Armstrong in Edgar Wright's crime-comedy ''Hot Fuzz'', Jurgen the Brutal in the ...

as John Ross * Edwin Wright as Victor the Hawk * Michael Whalley as The Kid *

Andrew Robertt Andrew Robertt is a New Zealand born actor. His work covers a diverse range of characters across multiple genres. He studied arts and sciences at The University of Auckland, and horticulture and business management at trade school. In his earlie ...

as Werner *

Madeleine Sami Madeleine Nalini Sami is a New Zealand actress, director, comedian and musician. She started her acting career in theatre before moving to television, where she created, wrote, and starred in ''Super City''. She co-wrote, co-directed, and starr ...

as Marimacho *

Brian Sergent Brian Sergent (born 29 December 1959) is an actor born and based in Wellington, New Zealand. Background Sergent’s acting career began at age 15 playing Lionel in the soap opera, '' Close to Home''. In television Sergeant is known for playin ...

as Peyote Joe * Bryan Michael Mills as The Minstrel *

Kalani Queypo Kalani Queypo (born September 6, 1986) is an American actor best known for his role as Chacrow on '' Jamestown'' and Klah Jackson on '' Fear the Walking Dead''. Biography Kalani Queypo claimed that he grew up being "artistic". His family were dan ...

as Kotori

Production

On 19 September 2013, it was announced that

, and

had joined the cast of ''Slow West'', produced by

Film4 Productions Film4 Productions is a British film production company owned by Channel Four Television Corporation. The company has been responsible for backing many films made in the United Kingdom. The company's first production was ''Walter'', directed by ...

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

commenced on 21 October 2013 in New Zealand. Shooting also took place in Scotland around the Achiltibuie Area, set in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

and

Scottish Highlands The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Sco ...

Reception

The film received critical acclaim upon its premiere at Sundance. It has a score of 92% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on 134 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10 and a critical consensus stating, "''Slow West'' serves as an impressive calling card for first-time writer-director John M. Maclean—and offers an inventive treat for fans of the Western." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a score of 73 out of 100, based on 27 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Rodrigo Perez of ''

The Playlist ''The Playlist'' is a British children's entertainment and music series presented by guest presenters, produced by Strawberry Blond TV for CBBC and first aired on 22 April 2017 and ended on 12 March 2022. The first series was narrated by Sco ...

'' in his review said: "Slow-burning and simmering, ''Slow West'' knows how to kick the voltage into high gear." Bilge Ebiri of ''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

'' magazine gave the film a positive review, and said that it is "an absurdist, melancholy coming-of-age tale that jumps from odd comedy to striking violence to stirring reflection". Michelle Orange of SBS gave the film four-out-of-five stars, and said that "''Slow West'' is defined by a kind of loving ambivalence—about its hero, its genre, and perhaps most of all about a landscape so harsh and so beautiful it almost makes a man hope to die."

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Slow West 2015 films 2015 directorial debut films 2015 independent films 2015 Western (genre) films 2010s action thriller films APRA Award winners American action thriller films British Western (genre) films British action thriller films 2010s English-language films Film4 Productions films Films scored by Jed Kurzel Films set in Colorado Films set in Scotland Films shot in New Zealand Films shot in Scotland Sundance Film Festival award winners 2010s American films 2010s British films Foreign films set in the United States