Slow West

The title here certainly represents truth in advertising: John Maclean's Western does indeed proceed at the proverbial snail's pace, opting for artful imagery punctuated by pseudo-profound epigrams and ostentatiously literary monologues rather than action. Granted, there is a lengthy shootout at an isolated cabin towards the end, but even that seems designed primarily to show off Maclean's skill in arranging corpses in arresting compositions. Death, in fact, is the central subject here—a recurrent reality in the rugged and unforgiving (if also often magnificent) region that dreamy young Scotsman Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) must traverse in order to find his lost love, Rose (Caren Pistorius), who fled their homeland. Jay finds a supposed protector in Silas Selleck (Michael Fassbender), a mysterious stranger who turns out to be one of many bounty hunters searching for Rose, who (unbeknownst to Jay) has a price on her head. As the two men proceed across the plains and mountains, the film serves up a picaresque series of episodes that highlight the cruelty of the environment, where people casually kill one another and flash floods wipe out whole campsites. Shot in New Zealand, Slow West features widescreen images of exceptional beauty, but overall its cinematic affectations—and Smit-McPhee's lackluster performance—make this a bit of a slog. Optional. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include deleted scenes (9 min.), an “On Strange Land” making-of featurette (7 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a bonus UltraViolet copy of the film. Bottom line: a decent extras package for an uneven Western.] (F. Swietek)