REVIEWED
..:: Machismovision - Film #32::..
.::Scavenger Hunt #14 May 2016 - Film #10::.
"Heavens above Rose, Scotland is far far away" - John Ross (Rory McCann)
Old Jock Western! Well it had to be something special to bring my Sunday western Machismovision list out of hibernation, and John Macleans 'Slow West' is pretty damn special.
John Maclean: Step aside Citizen Cane theres a new debut in town. So happy my boys done so well, what a truly startling first feature. Back when he was a musician I was a huge Beta Band fan (his original day job). I attended every show they ever did here in Manchester (98-2004) plus Glastonbury. And then his The Aliens offshoot where I met John, Robin & Gordon at Night'n'Day, even had my photo with the boys... good times.
Slow West: Jay travels from Scotland to the new frontier land America, in search of his love Rose. Only encounters a bounty hunter who uses
Visually its exceptionally beautiful. The casts phenomenal, Kodi Smit-McPee was a revelation. Then you got the always dependable Fassbender & Mendelsohn who are a different class here, as are the other support. Even the simplistic story and dialogue was amazing. Ohh and the 'kill that house' climax was a truly wonderful ode to Peckinpah. Trust me if you love westerns, you'll love Slow West...theres nods to traditionals, euros (spaghettis) and even acid-westerns with the peyote scene. Only flaw was it should have been twice as long, because 85 minutes wasn't enough.
P.S.
I was so tempted to give it 4.5 but wasn't sure if that would look like favoritism. So I went with 4, least it gives me scope to rank Macleans next feature higher. Just hope he doesn't pull a Welles, and decline after second feature (Ambersons).
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