At the end of the nineteenth century, 16-year-old Jay Cavendish journeys across the American frontier to search for the woman he loves. He is accompanied by Silas, a mysterious traveler, and hotly pursued by an outlaw along the way.
Slow West derives its strength not only from its multi-layered story but also from its spectacular visuals of a geography, which simultaneously seems subliminally awe-inspiring and menacing.
Slow West is the feature debut of writer-director John Maclean. [...] it is also among the more unique modern westerns in the way that it plays around with traditional western tropes and conventions.
Essentially an old-school Western with some interesting tweaks, Slow West -- the debut feature from musician-turned-filmmaker John Maclean -- is a simple story told, yes, slowly. But it offers a bang-up finish.
Maclean's film is a wonderfully dreamy, if meandering, take on the western. Like all movies that use their fantastic surroundings, Slow West is best seen on a big screen.
Writer-director John Maclean insists at every opportunity that the American west teemed with brutality and that every positive myth about the region was built on a lie, yet he doesn't deliver this familiar revisionist history with much force.
Slow West crescendos into a bravura shootout between all the involved parties, and it's as gorgeous, nihilistic, and brutally sad as the rest of the film.