Imagine four white brick walls, a twin size bed five feet away from another person’s, a desk, three drawer dresser, and a fan ripping through a 14’ by 11’ foot non-air-conditioned room in the blistering heat. Thousands of people on cam-pus live in dorms at Monmouth, but many call it home.
When students leave Monmouth, they drive out of the shimmering gold gates onto Norwood Avenue, where gargantuan homes tower over the Mercedes and Range Rovers that cruise down the road. Inside those homes you can only imagine the spiral staircases that encompass the spacious foyers, state of the art kitchens, bathrooms with whirlpool tubs and multiple bedrooms with king size beds, even for the kids.
You dream about those homes while you sweat in your twin size bed during the first hot weeks of September. However, inside one of those mansions there’s Lilly, who dreams about murdering her step-father.
Two upper class girls, Lilly, played by Anya Taylor Joy, and Amanda, played by Olivia Cooke, rekindle an unlikely friendship. To solve both of their problems, they devise a plan to murder Lilly’s stepfather.
The directorial debut of Cory Finley is a dark comedy with gorgeous visuals, a ferocious soundtrack and some strong per-formances, but the characters could be developed better.
Finley initially wrote Thoroughbreds as a play, but it surprisingly gained the backing of theater studios and the next thing you know, he was on set for the first time working with two of Hollywood’s rising stars: Anya Taylor Joy and Olivia Cooke. Although this is Finley’s first film, you’d never know it.
Finley’s directorial style is similar to Yorgos Lanthimos, who directed The Killing of a Sacred Deer, reviewed in a November issue of The Outlook. Like Lanthimos, Finley restrains the actors from expressing emotions, which locks you into the trite life of suburbia.
When emotions are expressed, Finley manages to squeeze an awkward laugh out of you. Lilly’s so stoical that when Amanda offers her a hug, she backs away expecting Amanda to take a punch.
There’s another part where Lilly is sitting on a couch when Amanda’s dog comes by. With her arms crossed, Lilly glares at the dog like it has four heads, while Amanda nonchalantly encourages her to pet it.
Finley also borrows from Lanthimos by making Thoroughbreds feel like a mainstream art house movie. Recently, art house has stumbled into nationwide theaters with films such as mother! starring Jennifer Lawrence or Good Time featuring Robert Patterson.
I appreciate the risk of art house films and their unique feeling, but Finley’s attempt to reach a young adult audience might backfire with trailers that perceive the film to be a twisting roller coaster ride with murder at the forefront.
Before going into Thoroughbreds don’t expect an exciting thriller, but relax and have an open mind about the subtle comedy Finley sprinkles throughout.
Even if the quirky comedy goes over your head, you’ll be able to appreciate the gorgeous cinematography by Lyle Vincent. Most of the scenes are long at two to four minutes per cut, which lets the camera steadily maneuver around the characters or gigantic homes.
Vincent’s cinematography makes the mansions feel even bigger as the camera smoothly glides through the long corridors that bleed into rooms with twenty-foot ceilings.
This ability also draws out ten-sion when the lens creeps up on the two girls as they zone out or listen to a conversation.
The score by Erik Friedlander feels like a character of its own and perfectly compliments the cinematography. Friedlander adds a sense of eeriness to the scenes with sounds of the cello that will raise the hairs on the back of your neck.
When it comes to Lilly walking down a corridor or showing up at a suburbian banger, expect unusual, yet mesmerizing electronic music that rattles the theater. There are songs like Sila by A Tribe Called Red and Uja by Tanya Tagaq that feature aggressive tribal throat singing with heavy bass in the background.
The music perfectly encompasses the bizarre tone of Thoroughbreds, despite its setting in blasé suburbia.
While there are risks through camerawork, music and performances, the film falls flat on developing its characters.
By the end of this short ninety-minute feature, it feels like I don’t know enough about the characters for me to care strong enough for Lilly’s hatred towards her step-father.
Yes, it’s depressing her father passed away years ago and was replaced by a Vineyard Vine wearing narcissist, but we’re never given a glimpse into the loving relationship with her father nor shown a photo of them together.
If we were given any information as to how much Lilly loved her dad, the story would carry more weight than just killing her step-dad because he sucks.
Additionally, another character, Tim, played by the late Anton Yelchin, is completely wasted although providing a lot of color and laughs. Tim pops up towards the middle, the girls involve him in a scheme, then he’s not seen until the final shot.
Tim has a stronger developed background compared to the other main characters. He’s a registered sex-offender who sells drugs to minors and lives at home with his dad, but aspires to own “the game” in Connecticut by living in a big house like the ones on Norwood Avenue.
Finley takes this eccentric character and pushes him in horse manure until the ending title card.
If Finley treated the characters as well as the tone and technical aspects, Thoroughbreds could be one of the great art house films in recent memory.
The next time you drive down Norwood Avenue, take a glance at the huge mansions.
You might be jealous of the lavish lifestyle of those who live five minutes away from your tiny dorm room, but who knows? Maybe in the future you’ll be living in one of those.
To keep that dream alive, just try to avoid one thing: don’t kill your step-dad.
If you think your dorm room is tight, wait until you step in your cozy cell.
IMAGE TAKEN from Thoroughbreds Twitter
