Slow West
2015
**
Director: John Maclean
Cast: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Michael Fassbender, Ben Mendelsohn, Caren Pistorius, Rory McCann, Andrew Robertt, Kalani Queypo
16-year-old Scotsman Jay travels to America and hires a bounty hunter to track down Rose, the object of his affections, unaware that there is a USD 2,000 price on her head. John Maclean, better known as a member of The Beta Band, makes his directorial debut with a poorly scripted but visually arresting Western. This short and modest mood piece shows the Wild West first and foremost as an unpredictable and violent territory, and the dreadful ending takes this idea a bit too literally. Considering that Jay travels halfway across the world and then makes his way through vast expanses of uninhabited wilderness to find the one person he knows, Small West would be a much better title.
