‘I am Tornado . . . remember my name,’ proclaims the resourceful protagonist of writer/director John Maclean’s pastoral thriller, a follow-up to his accomplished revisionist western Slow West. Set somewhere in Britain circa 1790, Tornado feels like the origin story of a samurai legend; played by model and songwriter Kōki, Tornado and her father Fujin (Takehiro Hira) are puppeteers in a travelling show which crosses paths with Sugarman (Tim Roth) and his murderous gang as they retrieve gold stolen from a nearby church. 

Maclean lays out his old-world locations carefully. From the decaying country house Tornado initially stumbles upon to the tatty circus she takes part in, the details are dank, persuasive and occasionally poetic. Kōki and Hira are both excellent, and Jack Lowden adds shade as Sugarman’s son Little Sugar, offering a moral ambiguity that elevates a route-one revenge story. ‘Good is boring,’ Tornado complains, but the various shades of grey are what makes this tale sing. 

As with Slow West, Tornado mines in a specific genre; anyone familiar with Lone Wolf and Cub or samurai movies in general will know exactly where this goes, and the result leans into well-established genre stereotypes of terse baddies and vengeful daughters. Robbie Ryan’s photography of countryside outside Edinburgh lends strong visual garnish to a blunt but gripping narrative, cannily restructured to conceal a crucial plot twist. John Maclean is a unique talent, and Tornado’s storm of hidden gold, artful deceptions and sudden, bloody violence sticks firmly in the mind.

Tornado is screened at GFT on Thursday 27 February as part of Glasgow Film Festival, and goes on general release from Friday 23 May.