If the safe money is on “writing what you know,” then John Maclean would initially seem to have taken a considerable gamble with his debut feature: a lyrical Western set in the 19th century Colorado frontier. But to hear the Scottish writer-director tell it, there are distinctly autobiographical elements to this fable about a young Scot venturing abroad in search of his beloved. On the heels of graduating university, Maclean traveled around America himself. But more importantly: “When I was 16 or 17, there was a familiar pattern of liking girls that were slightly out of my league,” he laughs. “There's definitely some of that in Slow West. But I never went as far as a rampage across America for them.”
In fairness, “rampage” might be too strong a word for the swath that willowy, callow Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) clumsily cuts through the treacherous Colorado landscape while in search of Rose (Caren Pistorius). After initially taking his cues from a guidebook, he quickly realizes that his chances of survival will be considerably improved by enlisting the outlaw Silas (Michael Fassbender) as a guide. Their path to Rose’s doorstep is demarked by bloody encounters – including an attempted horse theft that ends in glorious bit of morbid slapstick – and culminates in a standoff with a customarily villainous Ben Mendelsohn who's bedecked in one of the most bad-ass fur coats to ever grace the screen.
Maclean readily admits that aesthetics are vital to Slow West.
“I cast a lot of parts on looks. I wanted a kind of timeless, classic beauty...” he suggests. “There's definitely something about Kodi where he looks like he could belong in any time.”
Indeed, Smit-McPhee looks as if he might've stepped out of a John CH Grabill photograph. Having already proven himself a transfixing screen presence in The Road and Let Me In, his angular frame is incredibly well-served by Maclean's decision to forego Sergio Leone-indebted widescreen visuals in favour of a more intimate aspect ratio. “I imagined the film in [1.66:1] early on. It's my preference... I find it easier to frame 1.66 because it feels more like a painting,” he explains. “I was thinking about Jay's perspective as well… This kind of narrow view and European perspective.”
After directing two celebrated black-and-white short films (including the BAFTA-winning Pitch Black Heist), Maclean embraced this opportunity to utilize colour to optimal effect. To his way of thinking, those earlier films left him well-versed in the nuances of lighting and tone. “I think that every director should make black-and-white films,” he asserts. “They should have to consider tone when they're working.”
Meanwhile, he drew from his past experience as a member of The Beta Band (immortalized in High Fidelity) in the editing his episodic, Sundance-winning quest film.
“When I started editing, it felt much more like making music and making a record,” he shares. “How long you leave a scene breathe before you're teetering on the edge of losing its drama because you've stretched it too long. Or, it's too short and suffocating. There was something about rhythm and a sense of timing that emerged more during the edit.”
Foregoing the common practice of sending his cast films to reference before shooting, Maclean instead provided them with playlists featuring the legendary New York outsider artist Moondog.
“[His music] seemed to really resonate with the script.” Maclean opines. “I think it was because he made music with a lot of European classical influences and then mixed that with a lot of Native American percussion influences. It seemed that my film was trying to do that... Mix European cinematic influences with a kind of tribal American feeling.”
• Slow West was the winner of the World Cinema Jury Prize at the 2015 Sundance Festival for Best Dramatic Film, and runs June 26-July 5 at Vancity Theatre.
