{"id":2625,"date":"2015-05-07T18:33:48","date_gmt":"2015-05-07T18:33:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2015\/05\/07\/tribeca-review-thrilling-funny-and-unexpected-slow-west-is-not-to-be-missed\/"},"modified":"2015-05-07T18:33:48","modified_gmt":"2015-05-07T18:33:48","slug":"tribeca-review-thrilling-funny-and-unexpected-slow-west-is-not-to-be-missed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2015\/05\/07\/tribeca-review-thrilling-funny-and-unexpected-slow-west-is-not-to-be-missed\/","title":{"rendered":"Tribeca Review: Thrilling, Funny And Unexpected \u2018Slow West\u2019 Is Not To Be Missed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Kristy Puchko\u00a0\/ CBR<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I have never seen a Western quite like \u201cSlow West.\u201d From Michael Fassbender\u2019s opening snarls of dialogue, there\u2019s a touch of romance and magic to the film that gives it a defining whimsy, even in its darkest moments. This is not the wild west of John Wayne, but that of Jay Cavendish, \u201cSlow West\u2019s\u201d charming but frightfully na\u00efve hero played by a lanky and enchanting Kodi Smit-McPhee.<\/p>\n<p>The feature-length debut of writer-director John Maclean, \u201cSlow West\u201d follows 16-year-old Jay on his romantic quest to reunite with his ladylove (Caren Pistorius), who fled\u00a0their Scottish homeland for a new start in America. Astride a beautiful horse weighed down by luxury items like changes of clothes and a full porcelain tea set, Jay rides ever west, \u201ca jackrabbit in a den of wolves\u201d blithely unaware of the dangers that lurk around him. One such danger is instantly embodied by an absinthe-swigging brute\u00a0named Payne (Ben Mendelsohn, reveling in the Western oeuvre). Luckily, Jay first crosses paths with Silas Selleck (Michael Fassbender in full-on smolder mode), a hardened bounty hunter who offers to play bodyguard for a hefty fee.<\/p>\n<p>Together Silas and Jay make for a mesmerizing Odd Couple. One is rugged and jaded, the other gentle and idealistic. At first, Fassbender\u2019s Alpha Male rejects all attempts at camaraderie or conversation that young Cavendish dares to offer. But before long, Jay\u2019s wide-eyed wonder at the world around him becomes infectious, rekindling a long lost sense of hope and purpose in Fassbender\u2019s lonely outlaw.<\/p>\n<p>The visuals of \u201cSlow West\u201d are similarly driven by Jay\u2019s rose-colored worldview. Rather than the desolate vistas of Monument Valley, the wild west of this young lover is alive with color, flush with yellow fields of grain, peppered with purple flower patches, striped with white trees, and topped with sheets upon sheets of sparkling stars. It\u2019s radiant and gorgeous, true to its Western roots.<\/p>\n<p>The cinematography from Robbie Ryan is not only captivating, but also is imbrued with humor, an element laced throughout \u201cSlow West.\u201d Early on, it seems the wry sort, subtle and sophisticated. But as Jay and Silas embrace their evolving buddy comedy, things get silly \u2014 and in the best possible way. Slapstick is folded in with a dark streak of comedy that hits its finest moment in the third act with an idiom turned action that had this critic positively howling. But part of what makes the humor in the film so rich and rewarding is that its stars never lean into the jokes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSlow West\u201d is full of fine performances. Fassbender and Smit-McPhee\u2019s chemistry crackles from their first introduction. The doe-eyed ingendude makes the picture perfect babe in the woods, while Fassbender nestles deep into the sultry sex appeal of his rogue, then finds new colors in his regrets and fragile hope. When Mendelsohn enters the mix, threat and adrenaline come with him, along with a bad guy so damn charismatic it\u2019s criminal.<\/p>\n<p>All this builds beautifully to a finish that is dizzying in its impact; an action spectacle that is in turns thrilling, funny, heartbreaking and surprising. It\u2019s the kind of sequence that should have studios taking notice and calling Maclean in for meetings about helming summer blockbusters.<\/p>\n<p>This Scottish first-timer shows remarkable skill and talent here, creating a pastiche that is both respectful to the long history of Westerns and determinedly modern,\u00a0unafraid of taking the genre in new directions. Like \u201cEx Machina\u201d (also an A24 release), \u201cSlow West\u201d blends tones at will in a way that\u2019s risky. But with a flawless ensemble and a whip-smart director, it comes together into a cocktail that balances beautifully its darkness and levity, its drama and comedy, its salty and sweet. All and all, \u201cSlow West\u201d is a modern masterpiece.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSlow West\u201d is now playing at the Tribeca Film Festival, and is available on DirecTV. Its theatrical debit and On Demand release will follow on May 15<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kristy Puchko\u00a0\/ CBR I have never seen a Western quite like \u201cSlow West.\u201d From Michael Fassbender\u2019s opening snarls of dialogue, there\u2019s a touch of romance and magic to the film that gives it a defining whimsy, even in its darkest moments. This is not the wild west of John Wayne, but that of Jay Cavendish, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2015\/05\/07\/tribeca-review-thrilling-funny-and-unexpected-slow-west-is-not-to-be-missed\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Tribeca Review: Thrilling, Funny And Unexpected \u2018Slow West\u2019 Is Not To Be Missed - Thunderbird Entertainment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2015\/05\/07\/tribeca-review-thrilling-funny-and-unexpected-slow-west-is-not-to-be-missed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tribeca Review: Thrilling, Funny And Unexpected \u2018Slow West\u2019 Is Not To Be Missed - Thunderbird Entertainment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kristy Puchko\u00a0\/ CBR I have never seen a Western quite like \u201cSlow West.\u201d From Michael Fassbender\u2019s opening snarls of dialogue, there\u2019s a touch of romance and magic to the film that gives it a defining whimsy, even in its darkest moments. 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