One of the most bizarre but understandable quirks of the popularity of the Western genre is the fact that so many works glamourized the Old West and presented it as some wildly entertaining, colourful period in the past where life was simpler and people were more eccentric. Naturally, this is all a product of Hollywood’s attempts to make the past seem more attractive than it was in reality since we know without any doubt that life during this period was anything but easy, with the high mortality rate and abundance of violence and disease making it very clear that this was not an ideal time to be alive. Something that emerges in more complex depictions of the era is that tendency for people to live their lives constantly being on the run, being a target of some group that wished to use them for their gain. Few films have been more effective in conveying the sensation of perpetually being chased than Slow West, the directorial debut of John Maclean, who tells the story of a young Scottish migrant who arrives in the United States – specifically in Colorado – to find his long-lost love, who voyaged from Europe to the new world to find prosperity and wealth. What is not aware of is that his beloved is now a wanted fugitive, something that he only begins to realize once he is accompanied by a mysterious drifter who takes him under his wing and proves to be an invaluable ally as they traverse the beautiful but bloodstained landscapes. The first (and to date only) film that Maclean has directed, Slow West is not a perfect film, but one that has enough gumption and complexity embedded within it to earn our attention, and certainly carries itself with the sincerity that is often missing from more contemporary attempts to revisit this particular era in American history, being a fascinating experiment that may not always yield the results it perhaps intended to showcase, but still has a lot of value as both a genre film and a piece of historically-infused storytelling.

The Western genre has undergone several changes over the years, which is logical considering it was one of the first major genres that Hollywood invested their resources into producing, and it was at one point by far the most profitable form of filmmaking, drawing in audiences that could rival those of contemporary works. However, as time has progressed and we have firmly consolidated ourselves into an era where revisionist Westerns are usually the chosen avenue for modern filmmakers when revisiting this genre, we’ve found that there has been a specific kind of elevation that is not always welcome, primarily because they complicate stories that work best when they are at their most simple and elegant. Slow West is an earnest attempt to combine both the rough, gritty nature of many modern revisionist westerns with a more straightforward aesthetic and narrative approach that doesn’t require too much effort but instead relies on the simplest of cues, which is the exact quality needed to craft a successful western. Maclean crafts a fascinating blend of psychological thriller and road movie, following the two protagonists as they move across these diverse landscapes with a very simple mission in mind, with a few momentary sojourns that add nuance to the film but don’t impact the storyline directly. This is all ultimately done to work towards the concept of “the chase”, the aforementioned principle that people in the Old West often lived their lives in a binary manner, viewing themselves as either the predator or the prey, their efforts being almost exclusively to ensure that they remain the former since the first sign of vulnerability can be truly disastrous. It’s a fascinating approach, and the story is not entirely complex (even though it does earnestly want to give off the illusion that it is), but there is something quite compelling about how it weaves all these threads together to form something quite engaging, even with the limitations imposed on it by the genre, which the director views as a welcome challenge rather than an obstacle when it came to making this film.

Westerns are not always known for the strength of their performances, yet there have been many actors who have done arguably their best work in the genre, which is often the case with those who don’t make a living from these films, but rather venture into it as an experiment and find themselves challenged beyond many other genres. This is the case for both Kodi Smit-McPhee and Michael Fassbender, wonderfully versatile actors who have made an impression across several genres, but yet still feel oddly perfect for this kind of grimy revisionist Western, especially one that is centred around more philosophical ideas. Smit-McPhee was still a newcomer at this point in comparison to some of his more experienced colleagues, and there are a few small flaws that come through in his performance (including his peculiar attempt at a Scottish accent), but he is nonetheless the perfect actor to play this young man who is rapidly undergoing a loss of innocence in real time, watching the horrors of the world occur around him while he realizes that life is not as easy as he imagined it would be. Fassbender on the other hand has the far more interesting character, playing a bounty hunter with a conscience, a far cry from the image of the relentlessly cruel, callous version of the archetype we often find in these films. The two are an excellent pair, and they’re joined by a solid supporting cast, which includes Ben Mendelsohn (during a period when he was widely sought-after as a character actor, something that has oddly diminished in recent years) and a range of other tremendous actors that help bring this story to life, including its existentialist underpinnings that define some of its more unconventional and unnerving moments, helping realize Maclean’s ambitious vision and giving it some nuance.

However, as positive as the response to the film may be, Slow West is still not entirely free of shortcomings, and we find that Maclean is struggling to put certain elements together in a way that doesn’t feel somewhat stilted and dense. Primarily, we find that he isn’t able to capture the look of the period as precisely as he does the atmosphere – the film is very stylish, and almost comes across as too glossy and well-constructed in visual aesthetic to be an authentic depiction of the period. Everything is slightly too symmetrical, and even the attempts at gritty decay and destruction feel overly produced, rather than having that air of authenticity that we find in the work of slightly more experienced directors. Maclean is someone with a keen eye for visual detail, but not enough of his work reflects his ambition, since there are moments where Slow West feels quite rushed in how it was put together, but yet still maintains quite a paced, intentionally slow tone (reflecting the title, which is entirely intentional, perhaps to the film’s overall detriment), which is not quite as good of a match as we would hope. However, we still can’t help but be entirely bewitched by the film’s approach, even with these flaws quite evident, since the visuals are still quite beautiful, and as purely an aesthetic piece, Slow West leaves an impression – it simply doesn’t quite know how to combine the visual detail with the underlying the themes in a way that feels completely natural, which is not enough to spoil the film, but does prevent it from reaching the full extent of its potential, which is obvious from the start.

It certainly is difficult to hold any of these shortcomings against Slow West, since this is not a film that is ever entirely uncomfortable or difficult to watch. It runs at a rapid 84 minutes (reminding us of a bygone era where a fully-formed Western story could come together in just over an hour and not feel lacking), and it is compelling enough to keep us engaged, even if it isn’t always entirely consistent in what it is attempting to say. Perhaps expecting this to be a definitive or even historically-accurate account of the period is foolish, and the moment we allow ourselves to just be taken along for the journey, where logic isn’t imperative and there isn’t a need to understand the deeper meaning, the more our enjoyment of the narrative exponentially increases and becomes far more compelling. Maclean is a talented filmmaker, and his next film is highly anticipated – we can only hope (and likely predict) that he will retain the same attention to detail and grandiose visual approach, but filter it through a story that is stronger and capable of handling some of the more intense themes that he wants to introduce, but struggles to do in such a compacted space. Beautifully made and audacious enough to make up for a slightly hollow narrative, Slow West is a solid effort, and a good debut that proves the Western is not entirely redundant, and that there is still potential for old-fashioned artistic values to have a place in the contemporary cinematic landscape, even if the results are not quite on par with what we would expect from something so daring.