Slow West

So at the end of last year I reviewed a film called Tornado. If you haven't seen it yet, giddy up. I said I would go back and check out director John Maclean's first film, Slow West. I finally got around to doing it and it's also fantastic. Maclean has only made these two feature films and IMDb tells me they didn't make a whole lot of money. Which is a shame. I feel like there is some sort of injustice, much like the Wild West Maclean likes to write about. Both of Maclean's films have this quiet savagery to them, a kind of Darwinesque, eat-or-be-eaten quality. But as I said, it's quiet, subtle. It takes a long time to build up to the violence, then it's fast. The threat of it always seems to hang there, like a gun just laying on a counter. What's it all about? A young, very naive Irish man, Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee), is heading West across America in search of the love of his life, Rose (Caren Pistorius). Turns out that Rose is also a wanted fugitive. Tracking Rose is bounty hunter Silas (Michael Fassbender) who has had a falling out with a group of fellow trackers led by Payne (Ben Mendelsohn) who fashions a coat that looks like something Johnny Depp wore in Dead Man. They are all heading for destination Rose. Quentin Tarantino had already made seven films (ten if you include Four Rooms, True Romance, and Natural Born Killers; maybe eleven if you add Sin City) before he made Django Unchained and then The Hateful Eight. I would say Maclean's first two films are better Westerns. Saddle up and get yourself to your local video store, that would be Movies 'N Stuff here in Ottawa, and rent Slow West today. 

Tornado

Want a period piece which feels like it was made by the lovechild of Akira Kurosawa and Sergio Leone and stars Tim Roth as the bad guy? Of course you do! That lovechild is writer and director, John Maclean, who only has one feature-length film before this to his credit, Slow West (a film I haven't seen but now intend to). Tornado is about a young girl, who goes by the name of Tornado (Kôki). She and her samurai father are travelling through the English countryside in 1790, occasionally stopping to put on puppet shows in their travelling theatre stagecoach. Along comes Tim Roth and his band of bad guys and well I won't spoil a thing. Go watch it. The famous Sergio Leone facial close-ups are on full display. The patience of Kurosawa, the slow stress-building of Leone - Maclean has learned from the best to take his time. The thing I dislike about Marvel movies is they are so loud and inelegant; beastly like a neon pig-ape draped in the American flag. Tornado is Zen beauty. It's in no hurry, but then suddenly it cuts fast and clean - you don't see it coming. For me, it's one of the best Westerns I've seen in a while. It's a mosaic of grey and brown but it's gorgeous nonetheless. With a short runtime of 90 minutes, it's a piece of candy. Taste this treat streaming on Crave or see if Peter has it at Movies 'N Stuff here in Ottawa.