Thoroughbreds

I'm not sure this movie classifies as a comedy film. It's a light movie, but it's more serious than funny if you ask me. I really love this indie movie, and I watched it because of Anya Taylor-Joy. She did phenomenal and so did Olivia Cooke.

More indie films like this! (:

Thoroughbreds is a reminder that wealth is just a veneer over over our animalistic humanity. No matter how big the house, how luxurious the spa weekend, or how impressive the credentials, we all experience petty hatred and anger, we lie and we manipulate, and we want to protect what's ours - the cost to others be damned.

The movie is a character study of two rich kids - one who has no care for that veneer and one is highly dependent on it. The plot is driven by a "murder on my mind" scenario, but that's just to serve the psychological thriller format. The more interesting lens through which to view this movie, for me, was to examine the effect that these two unlikely friends had on each other.

Oh, and it's a pleasure to watch if you like careful, measured cinematography and pointed dialogue. It's a slow burn, but a worthy one.

I wanted to like this film. But overall it is fairly poor. The only standout is return to "shining" type cam shots and visuals. These were interesting as novelty when introduced 40 years ago, but were dropped from good filmmaking for good reason.

Ultimately this will appeal to filmgoers who like to be manipulated by technique instead of told a story. Even the deus ex machine ending is such a cop out that everyone left the screening shaking their heads.

SPOILER: Thoroughbreds was quite a bit to process for me. On the surface, it's a story about young would-be murderers who are plotting to kill a stepfather in a WASPy Connecticut setting. Symbolically, it's a story about free will and letting go of all inhibitions. Amanda teaches Lily that committing a murder is all about getting away from yourself and focusing on the goal. Throughout the film, they relate it to how Steve Jobs dropped out of college and founded his own computer company. Strange and satirical, for sure. Cooke and Joy are a fabulous duo.

The pacing of the film is even more off-putting. Also, despite being advertised as a comedy, Thoroughbreds is so matter of fact and grim, I couldn't decipher what was supposed to be funny from what was supposed to be dead serious. That was entirely the point, but I found myself scratching my head more than enjoying the nuance.

A slow thriller about two upper-class teenage girls in suburban Connecticut rekindle their unlikely friendship after years of growing apart. They're: Amanda (Olivia Cooke) who 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. Together, they hatch a plan to solve both of their problems-no matter what the cost. 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.. Good Breeding Gone Bad !

A slow-burning thriller originally written for the stage that contains intrigue, emotion, suspense , twists and turns. The film is acceptable and decent, but not too much, containing excessive dialogue and little action, focusing too much on the dark plans to be carried out by our beautiful and intriguing protagonists.

The film unfolds little by little, until the inevitable conclusion, the film relies heavily on the two very young protagonists, the suburban Connecticut, upper-class high schoolers , the film rests on them, whoever likes actresses will definitely like the film, whoever is not attracted to them will they will feel disappointed. When Thoroughbreds (2017) was filmed they were partially known (both actresses are English) , Anya Taylor-Joy and Olivia Cooke are today at the maximum height of their fame thanks to films ¨Furiosa: a Mad max saga¨ and ¨House of the Dragon¨ series. They are the authentic and beautiful protagonists, being briefly accompanied by a good support cast, such as: Paul Sparks, Francie Swift, Kaili Vernoff and Anton Yelchin to whom the film is dedicated due to his premature death due to an accident at the age of 27 .

This Thoroughbreds (2017) results to be Cory Finley's directorial debut. The film remained unreleased for two years, then the movie was later released with relative success. Finley later directed the most successful ¨Bad Education¨ (2019) with Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney, ¨WeCrashed¨ (2022) with Jared Leto, Anne Hathaway, and ¨Landscape with Invisible Hand¨ (2023) Kylie Rogers, Tiffany Haddish. Rating: 6/10. The pic will appeal to Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy fans.