Slow West (2015)

[Plain Old Tele]

Discuss.

[The Panda]

This is definitely worth a watch, it's an intriguing and slow moving western (albeit the name).  It doesn't necessarily climax as well as you'd like it to, but it's fairly original and satisfying.

 

It's like Coen Brothers meets John Wayne, very artsy and stylish, but it also has a fair bit of grit to it.  It's an enjoyable and brief watch.  Id compare it to Blue Ruin from last year, but it's not quite as suspenseful.

 

B

Edited November 28, 2015 by The Panda

[Goffe]

It's very competent and lean. I liked it. It's not very original, as it reminded me of a poor's man True Grit.

 

It's worth a watch for western fans, like me. 65/100

[Plain Old Tele]

Huh, as it turns out, I just saw this too. It has some nice stuff in it, but it also doesn't really distinguish itself from other indie westerns. In the B-/C+ range for me. 

[CoolioD1]

I didn't really get invested in this until the ending. it's ok. i liked ben mendelsohn's coat.

[Ezen Baklattan]

Quite enjoyed it. Wish it went a bit further in its absurdism, but it's still very solid.

[Blankments]

Slow West has one accurate title. Despite an 80 minute runtime, I was bored for a majority of it. Don't get me wrong, the acting was good and the cinematography was downright gorgeous at points, but the film has only two characters, neither of which are developed past archetypal backstories. There's a sequence in it where Jay (Kodi Smit-McPhee) stumbles onto a camp of travelers and someone there tells a story much more fascinating than the film itself. The only standout part of Slow West is the ending shootout, which is captivating and beautiful. Too bad the movie squanders it away with an outright awful denouement. Slow West has a lot of potential but manages to just be average thanks to... well, the slowness of its filmmaking. C

[aabattery]

I was actually pretty engrossed in it the whole time, and it never felt particularly slow to me. But the vistas were giving me a half-chub so that might just be a me thing.

 

I'm still struggling to come to terms with Mendelsohn's coat. I'm so glad they let him keep it. Guy looks so snug in it.