Every now and then, a movie will come around that seems to come out of nowhere. You don’t hear much about it, you don’t see any trailers for it, but somehow you find out about it and you get curious. Such is the case with 2017’s Thoroughbreds, a movie made by first-time writer/director Cory Finley that was originally written as a stage play before being turned into a movie. Apparently, this movie was originally made in 2016, played the festival circuit, and was finally released theatrically in 2018, so it spent at least two years in limbo before being released. I do know one reason why it may have been delayed, but I’ll get into that later. I can’t quite remember how I first heard about this movie, but I went into this movie knowing little to nothing about it. I did see a trailer for it and I was intrigued, so I gave it a watch, and what I saw was probably one of the most original and unique movies I’ve seen this year so far.
%
Rating
Set in the suburbs of Connecticut, the film revolves around two upper-class high school girls, the popular and more academic Lily, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, and the more distant and unfeeling Amanda, played by Olivia Cooke. The opening sets the film in motion as we see Amanda killing her crippled horse with a knife. This leads to her meeting up with Lily, who was an old friend of hers until they split when Lily’s dad died. She goes under the pretense of hanging out with Lily and having her be her tutor until she discovers that her mother essentially paid Lily to be her friend. While Lily denies this, Amanda is completely unfazed by this due to her not being able to feel any emotions, and the two become friends again. After the death of her father, Lily’s mom has remarried to a guy named Mark, played by Paul Sparks, who is vain and cruel but acts no differently than any other parent. Lily is upset when she finds out Mark has enrolled her into boarding school because she was expelled and, after seeing him berate her mother, decides to talk with Amanda about possibly killing him. Initially, Lily wants Amanda to do it since she’d be free of guilt, but Amanda says she would immediately be suspect because of her pending animal cruelty charge. So instead, they enlist the help of ambitious but pathetic drug dealer Tim, played by the late Anton Yelchin, to stage the murder like an accident. What follows is a story about the loss of innocence, people doing what they can to get ahead in life, and how seemingly good-natured people can turn twisted.
I mentioned before how I believe I know why this movie was delayed the way it was. Well, my reasoning is Anton Yelchin, who sadly passed away on June 19, 2016, just two weeks after filming was completed. Granted, I don’t 100% know if his death delayed the film’s release, but watching the film, it really does make you miss him since his acting is so good in this. Not saying the rest of the actors in this are bad, but Yelchin absolutely steals the scenes he has in this. As for the two leads, Anya Taylor-Joy and Olivia Cooke are fantastic and they work off each other really well. While admittedly Cooke’s character doesn’t change much, it is fitting since her character is supposed to be unfeeling. However, it is interesting to see the character arc that Taylor-Joy goes through, going from a somewhat uppity but prim-and-proper young lady into someone who’s almost as unfeeling as Cooke but is determined to get her way no matter the cost. Paul Sparks is also great as the step-dad Mark, in that he plays his character as so angry and hateful that you understand why Lily hates his guts, but you can also understand his perspective of a guy trying to raise this girl but struggling because she comes across to him as being self-centered and not appreciate of what he and her mother do for her. Going back to how this was originally meant for the stage, you can really feel that with how this movie is filmed and staged. Granted, that’s not a bad thing in this movie’s case since the performers are so strong and the story is engaging.
If there are any problems I have here, one is the film’s pace. At times, it can be pretty slow and a little dull, as if nothing is happening. That said, at 92 minutes, the movie does go by fairly quickly, but it can feel like the plot doesn’t really come into play until the second half. Also, adding to the film feeling slow, there are quite a few static shots in the movie or shots where the camera doesn’t move, which can make scenes feel longer than they actually are. Even still, some of those shots are very effective, especially one towards the end where the camera stays on one shot and does a deliberately slow zoom. The movie is billed as a dark comedy, some referring to it as a mix between Heathers and American Psycho. I can see the connection, but I don’t think this movie has the same gleeful humor of Heathers nor the biting wit or graphic violence of American Psycho. Not that I think either would’ve made this movie necessarily better, but I can understand some people not being into this movie for its slow pace and seemingly endless scenes of just dialogue. However, if you stick with it and really focus on what’s going on, Thoroughbreds is definitely one of the hidden gems of 2018 that’s worth taking a look at.
