Thoroughbreds-2018
Director Cory Finley
Starring Olivia Cooke, Anya Taylor-Joy
Scott’s Review #880
Reviewed March 26, 2019
Grade: B
Thoroughbreds (2018) is an independent dark comedy with snippets of creative filmmaking and an intriguing premise that loses steam towards the conclusion, closely mirroring too many other similarly themed indies.
An enjoyable geographical setting, but the lackluster, monotone dialogue never allows the film to stand out on its own and is therefore deemed unmemorable.
The lead actors are fine, but the experience falls short of raising the bar, suffering from an odd title that has little to do with the story.
Lily (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Amanda (Olivia Cooke) are former childhood friends whose differing levels of popularity have strained their relationship over the years. When Amanda’s mother pays Lily to socialize with Amanda under the guise of tutoring, Amanda catches on to the plot and confronts Lily.
This event brings the girls closer and, in a macabre fashion, they begin to hatch a scheme to plan the death of Lily’s stepfather, wealthy Mark (Paul Sparks), whom she perceives as abusive.
It is revealed via flashback that Amanda euthanized her crippled horse to spare his suffering which resulted in animal cruelty charges.
The setting of affluent Fairfield County, Connecticut, and presumably wealthy Greenwich is a high point of the film and an immediate comparison to the 1997 masterpiece, The Ice Storm.
Bored rich kids who perceive themselves to shoulder all the world’s problems, while subsequently attending the best boarding school imaginable, is delicious and a perfect starting point for drama and intrigue.
Lily’s domineering stepfather and her passive and enabling mother are clever additions without making them seem like caricatures.
The dynamic between the girl characters is intelligently written and believable, especially as they crack witty dialogue with each other. Lily is academic and stoic, humorously said to suffer from an unnamed condition that prevents her from feeling or showing any emotion.
Amanda is the perfect counterbalance as she is sarcastic, witty, and serves up one analytical observation after another.
From a physical perspective, the statuesque Lily is believable as the more popular of the two and the perceived leader.
As the girls elicit the participation of local drug dealer Tim (Anton Yelchin) into their plans, at first voluntary and ultimately by blackmail, the plot takes a turn for the formulaic and the redundant.
The setup seems too much like a standard dramatic story arc and becomes clichéd as the once-willing participant is subsequently thrust into the scheme. There are no romantic entanglements between the three main characters, and subsequently, there are no characters to root for, one strike against the film.
Otherwise, the “been there, done that” monotone dialogue has become standard in dark comedies so that in 2018, the element seems dated and a ploy to develop offbeat characters.
Director Cory Finley borrows heavily from fellow director Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums, 2001, and The Moonrise Kingdom) in this regard, so that the freshness of the characters and story wears thin mid-stream.
The title of the film could be better, as a quick scene featuring Amanda and a horse at the beginning, and a brief mention of horses in a dream by one character, is all there is about the animals.
I expected more incorporation between animal and human, or at least a more poignant connection. The privileged lives of Lily and Amanda seem a perfect correlation to bring horses into the central story in a robust way.
Finley is on the cinematic map, crafting an effort that proves he possesses some talent and an eye for a wicked and solid offering.
Thoroughbreds (2018) represents a film like many others in the same genre that rises to the top of the pack, but it is not without merits and sound vision. It will be interesting to see what this up-and-coming director chooses for his next project.
Independent Spirit Award Nominations: Best First Screenplay