Slow West
Director: John Maclean
Starring: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Michael Fassbender, Ben Mendelsohn
84 mins; Class 15;
KRS Cinema Releasing

Slow West is the assured feature directorial debut of one John Maclean, a feature which reunites him for the third time with Michael Fassbender, who starred in the director’s two previous short films.

As the title implies, it is a western and, despite the often leisurely pace at which the story unfolds, there is nothing slow about it. It is an at times gripping, and often fascinating, look at the dangers of life on the Colorado frontier at the end of the 19th century.

It is, at heart, a coming-of-age-story of an innocent abroad. Jay Cavendish is a 16-year-old Scottish aristocratic boy who leaves the safety of the Highlands to travel all the way to America in search of his love Rose (Caren Pistorius), forced to flee Scotland with her father some time before.

A boy more at ease with books than with weapons, Jay is clearly ill-equipped to face the dangers inherent in the forbidding landscape of frontier life and he hooks up with a mysterious and dangerous frontiers-man Silas (Fassbender), who offers to chaperone him, against payment.

Although writer/director Mac-lean recreates a familiar version of the cinematic west as we know it, with the impeccable production and costume design and some truly breathtaking vistas, he maintains an independent sensibility. He does this by focusing keenly on his characters, allowing them to let the narrative unfold in an unhurried fashion.

Fassbender may be the star draw, but he willingly plays second fiddle – and gets second billing – to his younger co-star. Smit-McPhee is a fascinating young actor whose pale looks and ethereal demeanour have served him well throughout his short but impressive career with excellent roles in films such as 2010’s Let Me In; and he fits the shoes of Jay perfectly with his deeply-felt performance of a gentle soul forced to discover his inner toughness to survive.

And there is something inherently moving about this young man who genuinely believes he will find his lost love in this vast and hostile land and they will live happily ever after.

Fassbender is clearly attracted to characters that are taciturn, mysterious, troubled and often dangerous but it his impressive range and uncanny ability to colour each of these roles differently that makes every persona he embodies so fascinating.

And, in Silas, he has created a cynical character, burdened by many years of baggage yet the relationship with this frail and innocent young boy, with whom he discovers unexpected companionship, taps into some long-lost humanity which makes him at times go against his natural, violent instincts.