Thoroughbreds

This is the first offering from writer and director Cory Finley. And this is an odd one. I’m still sort of processing how I feel about it. It centers on childhood friends Amanda (Olivia Cooke) and Lily (Anya Taylor-Joy) who come from rich families. They rekindled their friendship because Amanda’s mom hired Lily as a tutor. Those pesky moms. Amanda is apparently devoid of all feelings and seems a tad off kilter. Lily is seemingly more normal. Or is she? Cooke and Taylor-Joy play excellently off each other and I had a great time watching their chemistry. Finley seems intent on keeping you off balance and trying to guess what will happen next. There is a murder plot involved in this that seems slightly unbelievable. And I wasn’t super thrilled with the ending. It was okay, but I guess I expected more. Finley does a good job of keeping things tight and using suspense (lots of good music choices helped with this) to keep you engaged. He also bucks some of the high school story norms which I appreciated. The best part of the film for me was Cooke’s performance and character. I found her to be the most interesting and nuanced character in the film despite her lack of feelings. Some of the other characters, particularly Lily’s mom and step-dad, were stereotypical and stilted. I’m really not sure if I liked this or not yet (which may indicate that I did not?). I’m interested to see what Finley tackles next to see how this compares.

Film or Movie: Film
You’ll like this film if:
1. You like stories showing privileged kids
2. You like suspense
3. You want to see Anton Yelchin in one of his last few roles (RIP)