'Slow West' continues the strong streak of modern westerns with its visually breathtaking, atmospherically rich & solidly performed story of love & survival across the Wild West.
On this week's episode, the guys talk Bone Tomahawk, Slow West, and more Mississippi Grind.
Sam Love writes- Ah, Westerns! I bloody love ‘em. Despite their often repetitive narratives and iconography, there’s something about them that I find irresistible, with Sergio Leone’s The Good, The Bad & The Ugly and Once Upon A Time In The West among my favourite films of all time. So, I always jump at the opportunity to watch a new, contemporary one and see if they add anything new to the genre. More often than not, they don’t.
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This is a movie with so much to its refreshingly slight running time that’s it’s somewhat unbelievable this is John Maclean’s feature debut. His direction is incredibly purposeful, with dreams, flashbacks and stories presented in novel, character-driven ways. What stands out most is the refined editing, in scenes of high tension jumping through carefully composed shots. Sometimes all this leads to moments that are a little obvious – characters occasionally speak in out-of-place philosophical phrases and at one point salt literally pours onto a wound – but there’s so much subtextually lurking here that it’s totally forgivable.
