Thoroughbreds is a 2018 thriller about two upper-class teenage girls who rekindle their unlikely friendship after years of growing apart.
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When I went to see I, Tonya several weeks ago, I saw a trailer for Thoroughbreds and thought it was one of the funniest trailers I’d seen in awhile. I love dry, dark humor and this one had it in spades. I saw quotes from critics saying that it was Heathers meets American Psycho and I was hooked. Even more surprising is that I saw the ad at AMC theaters. Independent movies and big chain theaters don’t usually mesh, but I was still curious to think why this movie deserved to have more seats available. Well after work I headed on down to the same exact theater I first saw the trailer and gave it a chance. What I saw didn’t quite match my expectations, but I’ll blame that on the ad people.
Split up into a series of chapters, Thoroughbreds is about two former best friends who plan to kill one of their parents. Lilly (Anya Taylor Joy) is highly sensitive who feels everything while Amanda (Olivia Cooke) is the opposite and feels nothing. Instead of having a doctor put down a horse who was sick, Amanda decides to do the job herself with only a small knife. Lilly’s stepfather Mark (Paul Sparks) is the source of her turmoil and she wants nothing more than to make sure he goes away for good. Their first plan is to contact Tim (Anton Yelchin in his last role) to be the hit guy. Now, Tim sees himself as the big time drug hustler, but right now, he is stuck dealing drugs to freshmen and sophomore college kids. Lilly and Amanda have some dirt on him and will use it if he doesn’t go along with their plan. Everything is set up for a perfect murder … but if only that were so.
While I was watching this I was very impressed at how director Cory Finley and cinematographer Lyle Vincent shot this. It felt at times like I was watching a Michael Henke (Cache, The Piano Teacher) movie because of the lack of camera movements. There is one moment that feels like it was influenced heavily by Funny Games (also by Heneke). Shooting it this way allows us to see the actors in this grand set designs by Jeremy Woodward. Without the use of any big close ups or quick cuts. Sometimes several minutes would stay fixed on an image without cutting away. I know this will irritate some, but I like it when a director lets you discover something in a frame without telling you what is suppose to be there.
All of the actors are good, but it seems like most went to the same school of Yargos Lanthimos (The Killing of a Sacred Deer). Everyone except for Tim had the same style of dialogue that his actors use in his features. Maybe not to that extreme, but very close. The main issue is that unlike Lanthimos, whose line delivery can bring a lot of dry dark humor to the movie, I felt that it was really a strong presence in Thoroughbreds.
The movie uses the whole chapter gimmick that Tarantino has used in his movies, but I never understood why. They could have just used days of the week, months, seasons, and it all would have been just the same. Most books that I have read give you some sort of hook to get you to want to read the next chapter. This one does not. One critic said that this was supposed to be Heathers meets The Shining and I wonder if this is what they meant by that.
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Speaking of Heathers and even American Psycho, which are big on having satire in the plot, I never knew what Finley was trying to say with this movie. Is it suppose to be that all of us, if pushed too far, have the capacity for violence? Is it to say that people who may seem cold and distant in reality are not? Are rich girls spoiled too much? I don’t know.
I liked Taylor-Joy in The Witch, Split and the underrated flick Morgan, and her role in this is good, but her character switches gears a bit too fast in my opinion. I have only seen Cooke in the TV series Bates Motel and I thought of everyone in this her character was probably my favorite because she does have some of the best lines. Most of the dark humor comes from her, which leads me to Yelchin, who passed away after this movie was shot. After appearing in the recent Star Trek, Fright Night, and Odd Thomas, it’s sad to think that his life ended so soon when he was getting better at each role he took on. His character of Tim brings a lot of life into this movie, even though he is very unlikable. Yelchin plays him with such joy that it’s a treat every time he is on screen.
That said, if you really want to see another movie where two girls plan the death of their parents, I highly recommend Heavenly Creatures, starring Kate Winslet, Melanie Lynskey and directed by Peter Jackson. It’s so good and worthy of all the praise it got as well.