It stars Kodi Smit-McPhee as a young Scotsman searching for his lost love in the American West, accompanied by a bounty hunter played by Michael Fassbender.

At a trading post, unbeknownst to Jay, Silas sees a wanted poster offering a $2,000 bounty for Rose and her father.

Jay's uncle, Lord Cavendish, accidentally dies in an argument with John Ross, Rose's father.

Payne gives Silas and Jay an absinthe in a failed attempt to gather information about Rose and her father's whereabouts.

On 19 September 2013, it was announced that Michael Fassbender, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Ben Mendelsohn had joined the cast of Slow West, produced by Film4 Productions.

The website's consensus reads: "Slow West serves as an impressive calling card for first-time writer-director John M. Maclean—and offers an inventive treat for fans of the Western.

[12] Rodrigo Perez of The Playlist in his review said: "Slow-burning and simmering, Slow West knows how to kick the voltage into high gear.

"[13] Bilge Ebiri of New York magazine gave the film a positive review, and said that it is "an absurdist, melancholy coming-of-age tale that jumps from odd comedy to striking violence to stirring reflection".

[14] Michelle Orange of SBS gave the film four-out-of-five stars, and said that "Slow West is defined by a kind of loving ambivalence—about its hero, its genre, and perhaps most of all about a landscape so harsh and so beautiful it almost makes a man hope to die.