Film Review: Slow West (15) (U.K./New Zealand 2015) (Director: John McLean), Cameo Cinema, Screen One, Edinburgh, Sunday 05.07.2015, 18:15

This is the feature début of a former member of Edinburgh's The Beta Band. It is a Western, though everything I heard about the film beforehand lead me to understand it is not a typical Western, thankfully as I am not a big fan of the genre. The poster looks woozy and colourful and the lead looks rather effeminate. The basic premise is that a young man called Jay (Kodi Smit-McPhee) from Scotland travels to the United States of America seeking out his childhood love. Near the start of the film, he gets some company on his adventure, in the form of Michael Fassbender, whose purpose is unknown to Jay. 

There are nice bits of dialogue, particularly a phrase that stayed with me, which goes along the line of 'in a short while, this will be a long time ago'. Which struck me as encapsulating the way that humans reflect on time, how this is so disconnected to the greater scheme of things, and essentially reflects the transitory nature of everything. 

The lead was portrayed as a quiet, sensitive character, which I found very refreshing for a Western. The film was short, it did not drag, yet had a nice languid pace. The film had nice framing and use of light. The sound and music used was to a degree unusual, though was fitting to the general mood of the film and was pleasing on the ear. Although there are many things about this film that are praiseworthy, it did overall feel rather insubstantial. Over all a decent watch.

Rating: 08/10.