Thoroughbreds

Dir: Cory Finley

2017

***

Originally written for the stage, Cory Finley’s impressive debut Thoroughbreds is wry and cuts deep but is somewhat lost in the vastness of cinema. I would have loved to have seen an intense theatre production of the story and as much as I admired the film, I can’t help but think it was missing something. I think it comes down to editing. I didn’t know it was written as a play but I did feel it could have been one while watching, and the way the intense conversations between characters was either interrupted by a new scene or a different angle infuriated me. Don’t get me wrong, it is an impressive directional debut full of wonderful compositions and angles, I just think it would have worked best if it were totally stripped back and a little more continuous. I thought the initial revelation was drawn out somewhat but still effective. The story starts in suburban Connecticut, where upper-class high schooler Amanda (Olivia Cooke) euthanizes her crippled horse with a knife, resulting in charges of animal cruelty. Some time later, Amanda arrives at the home of the more popular and academically-inclined Lily (Anya Taylor-Joy). The girls had previously been best friends but grew apart after the death of Lily's father. They meet under the pretense of hanging out and having a casual tutoring session, but Amanda knows that her mother (Kaili Vernoff) has paid Lily to socialize with Amanda. Lily denies being paid, but Amanda, left emotionless by an unspecified mental disorder, is unfazed. Lily meets with Amanda again, this time voluntarily, and they rekindle their friendship. Lily lives with her mother Cynthia (Francie Swift) and stepfather Mark (Paul Sparks), a wealthy and abusive man whom she hates. One night, Amanda asks if Lily ever thought about killing Mark, upsetting Lily. However, tensions flare between Lily and Mark when Mark enrolls Lily in a boarding school for girls with behavioral issues. After seeing him berate Cynthia, Lily reconsiders and calls Amanda about the notion of killing him. She proposes that Amanda perform the murder as she would be free of guilt while doing it. However, Amanda believes that her pending animal cruelty trial would make her an immediate suspect, and they decide instead to blackmail drug dealer Tim (Anton Yelchin) into murdering Mark while both of them are out of town. The night of the planned murder, Tim arrives on the property but leaves without killing Mark. The girls agree not to contact Tim again, as his own criminal history will prevent him from alerting the police. Lily impulsively prepares to kill Mark herself but is talked out of it by Amanda. One night, Lily and Amanda are watching a film at home when Lily reveals that she has spiked Amanda's drink with Rohypnol, planning to stab Mark to death and frame Amanda. Lily attempts to back out of the planned murder, but Amanda willingly finishes the drink. While Amanda is unconscious, Lily murders Mark and rubs Amanda with his blood, crying and holding the unconscious Amanda for comfort. Some time later, a recovered and confident Lily encounters Tim, who now works as a restaurant valet. Following Mark's death, Lily has once again found academic success and is interviewing for college admission. Lily gives Tim the tape which she was going to use to blackmail him. She then mentions a letter from Amanda, who has been institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital for Mark's murder. The letter is shown to detail Amanda's experiences at the institution and a recurring dream about a future in which the humans let the community fall into disarray due to their vanity and it becomes overrun by thoroughbred horses. When Tim asks what the letter said, Lily says she threw the letter away without reading it. It’s a wry and unnerving end to a wry and unnerving story, one without heroes or villains. It has been described as a dark comedy but it isn’t, it is more a social satire, an uncomfortable truth and nothing really to laugh about. Laughing out of shock doesn’t always make it a dark comedy. If anything the film left me sad, although heightened performances I’m sure would have thrilled me more. It really should have been made into a stage play as it was originally intended but I did think that Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy played their roles perfectly. Theatre would have enhanced their performances, film only muted them. The film also comes with sadness as it would be the last appearance of Anton Yelchin, a great actor who never made a bad film.