Slow West

JP Liz V1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oAs_t_Z260

Looks pretty good and impressive cast especially in Michael Fassbender and Ben Mendelsohn, set to be released here near end of June

Deisler

Just watched this. Oddball western not bad. Fassbender good as usual.

gucci

Watched this last night, a good solid movie. Good writing, elegant dialogue, nice bit of action and solid performances all around. It has a pretty reasonably traditional western type story line, but still has clearly modern influences of True Grit (remake) and Django. There are enough little twists to keep the mind focused. The climax its quite well done too / despite being a bit OTT, but following on the lines of the story it could never be resolved without a big blow out!

How bloody Rose survives I don’t know, but of course it is a movie at the end of the day! Almost reminded me of Arnie in the shed in Commando!! The heartbreak for young Jay when Rose has killed him amid all the madness and you are left waiting, waiting to see how long it takes her to realise is a nice juxtaposition to the fast pace action that is happening at the same time.

Well worth watching and I will definitely keep an eye out for this directors next work.

Looper007

gucci wrote: »

Watched this last night, a good solid movie. Good writing, elegant dialogue, nice bit of action and solid performances all around. It has a pretty reasonably traditional western type story line, but still has clearly modern influences of True Grit (remake) and Django. There are enough little twists to keep the mind focused. The climax its quite well done too / despite being a bit OTT, but following on the lines of the story it could never be resolved without a big blow out!

How bloody Rose survives I don’t know, but of course it is a movie at the end of the day! Almost reminded me of Arnie in the shed in Commando!! The heartbreak for young Jay when Rose has killed him amid all the madness and you are left waiting, waiting to see how long it takes her to realise is a nice juxtaposition to the fast pace action that is happening at the same time.

Well worth watching and I will definitely keep an eye out for this directors next work.

I loved the fact

Jay travelled halfway across America and went through a lot dangerous situations to see her as he think's they are long lost lovers but she barely remember's him and it's actually Fassbender's character that feels more for the poor lad's death then Rose does. I think its sad on Jay's part but its somewhat darkly funny that Rose clearly doesn't feel a jot for the lad's death.

It's definitely a great watch (pity it wasn't given a release sooner here as it's widely able to see on the net). Great performance as per usual from Fassbender and Kodi Smit-McPhee as Jay is excellent. One of the best shot films you see this year and you wouldn't think it was entirely filmed in New Zealand. It's not going to be for everyone expecting a old fashioned Western this is a very slow film even at a Hour and a half running time.

gucci

Looper007 wrote: »

I loved the fact

Jay travelled halfway across America and went through a lot dangerous situations to see her as he think's they are long lost lovers but she barely remember's him and it's actually Fassbender's character that feels more for the poor lad's death then Rose does. I think its sad on Jay's part but its somewhat darkly funny that Rose clearly doesn't feel a jot for the lad's death.

It's definitely a great watch (pity it wasn't given a release sooner here as it's widely able to see on the net). Great performance as per usual from Fassbender and Kodi Smit-McPhee as Jay is excellent. One of the best shot films you see this year and you wouldn't think it was entirely filmed in New Zealand. It's not going to be for everyone expecting a old fashioned Western this is a very slow film even at a Hour and a half running time.

Yes that was a good element to the storyline. I also liked that

Rose was obviously a cooler character than the young Jay (and I suppose a nice change from the female usually being the gushing / blushing / romantic type) that even upon killing him, she wasn’t overcome with emotion and didn’t break down and start to bawl crying….it would have been an easy option to take for the story, but it wouldn’t have fitted.

Regarding the release, I didn’t realise it was being held up, but it might benefit from being released at a time where the options / competition is a bit all over the place. We had the option to go see this or Jurrassic World on Monday, and I went for this just because Fassbender was in it and had no idea of the storyline!

Pierce_1991

Just saw this tonight, enjoyable watch if a bit on the slow side. Had some nice individual moments, the shop scene, the writer, and the native americans attempting to steal the horses in particular.

In terms of the ending,

at first it left me a little empty but having thought more about it it was actually quite good. The clues are there throughout that this is not going to end well for Jay. We see from the scenes in Scotland that this is an unrequited love. Also I think Jay trying on the suit with the bullet hole is a nod towards what fate he eventually faces. Nice bit of originality in the finale, with Rose failing to even recognise Jay let alone show any love for him.

Fassbender excellent as usual, think he could make anything watchable, and this was a great role for him.

7/10

nokia69

its an ok flick

6/10 for me, better than anything else at the minute

SuperGrover

Really enjoyed it. Direction, acting, pacing, all excellent. The screen ratio suited it really well.

The recurring music was bugging me with it's familiarity. My wife sussed it... almost exactly the same in places as the music from In The Mood For Love.

Anyway, top notch and recommend highly.

MakeEmLaugh

I thought this was a solid, if slight, contemporary western. Fassbender seemed to be channelling Clint Eastwood, down to the cheroots he chomps on throughout. His reluctant guardian could be a spiritual cousin to the characters Eastwood played in Two Mules for Sister Sara or The Outlaw Josey Wales.

Fassbender's accent, as in Frank and X-Men First Class, had a twang of Irishness about it, though this was explained away in a throwaway line about his father (or mother, I can't remember which) being buried in Ireland. For such a versatile actor, North American accents do seem something of a challenge, though I suppose what we understand to be an American accent today is not identical to what would have been heard back in 1870, when the film is set.

There are moments of magical realism, such as when the main character, Jay (Kodi Smit-McPee) 'shoots' Orion's Belt into lighting up, and plenty of meta moments: Jay carries a pulpy book on the North American frontier, unaware they he himself is starring in what is quite a pulpy western. Jay is a curious character, an aristocratic teen who speaks fluent French to some black musicians he encounters, but who repudiates this (identifying as 'British' first, before quickly changing to 'Scottish').

It didn't hold a candle to the likes of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, though the score by Jed Kurzel was definitely channelling fellow Aussies Nick Cave and Warren Ellis' music from that film. It did have a refreshingly brief running length – under 90 minutes, which is borderline miraculous in the age of bloated blockbusters like Avengers: Age of Ultron – though it still had its slow moments. These were made up for in the final act, an old fashioned shoot-out in the style of The Outlaw Josey Wales.

One flaw for me was Fassbender's voiceover narration. It added nothing to the film and, indeed, in its final moments, took away (the last line he utters is cringeworthy, to say the least).

Overall, though, not a bad film.

Technocentral

Watched it last night, excellent film, stunning cinematography and Fassbender was excellent. He's probably best Irish film actor ever?

LuckyLloyd

Technocentral wrote: »

Watched it last night, excellent film, stunning cinematography and Fassbender was excellent. He's probably best Irish film actor ever?

Is Daniel Day Lewis considered Irish these days? If so, no. If not, probably.

MakeEmLaugh

Technocentral wrote: »

Fassbender was excellent. He's probably best Irish film actor ever?

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Is Daniel Day Lewis considered Irish these days? If so, no. If not, probably.

I don't know if you could say that. What about Richard Harris, Brendan Gleeson, Barry Fitzgerald (the only Irish-born actor to win an Oscar), Ciarán Hinds, Michael Gambon or Liam Cunningham?

Looper007

MakeEmLaugh wrote: »

I don't know if you could say that. What about Richard Harris, Brendan Gleeson, Barry Fitzgerald (the only Irish-born actor to win an Oscar), Ciarán Hinds, Michael Gambon or Liam Cunningham?

Richard Harris and Brendan Gleeson would be close, only Irish filmmakers really get the best out of Gleeson he's misused in American films and Harris had some greats but a lot of tosh in the canon. I still think This Sporting Life and the Field are two of the best performances by any Irish actor. Colin Farrell is a bit like Gleeson, when he gets a non lead role or goes agaisn't grain he's up there with Fassbender. But I do agree that Fassbender is the best actor we produced. But sure the German's could take him seen as he's half. He has something of the De Niro's about him.

pixelburp

On the basis of this popping up on Netflix, I figured it worth bumping the thread, given the film kinda came & went pretty quickly in cinemas.

It's a strange little film really; on the one hand I can see why it garnered the praise it did, yet there was something just too ... lacking about it. Like it needed that extra pass in the script, or some extra dramatic layer to put move everything into a sharper focus. It did have a very pleasingly off-kilter vibe that I'm generally fond of; that oddball sensibility, genetically more related to the likes of the Coen brothers than the sort of tortured-soul narrative you might find in post-Unforgiven Westerns. Yet equaly there was something absent within the film: despite the rich visuals & beautiful cinematography, the understated, rustic turns by its leads and some genuinely hilarious moments, it all had a terribly unsubstantial structure to it, forgotten almost the moment it finished. A lovely film, very bitter-sweet, but nowhere near 'essential'