Thoroughbreds

Thoroughbreds doesn’t look or sound anything like other teen-centric movies, but this is hardly a surface-only character study.

What begins as a gleefully nasty piece of work gradually picks up more nuance as it goes, adding dimensions to characters who could easily have coasted on the story’s arched-eyebrow burlesque.

It’s an expertly directed, slow-burning psychological horror film filled with outstanding performances.

While Finley’s film may be slim on any truly insightful commentary about what makes Amanda and Lily tick, that’s almost beside the point. Instead, this is a film about the fine lines separating civility from chaos, and how it only takes a tiny push to send you across when you’re close enough to it.

Yelchin’s performance — grizzled, neurotic — is sadly on-the-nose, making us feel as if we’re watching the last act of a troubled young man.

It doesn’t have easy access to human emotion, instead deploying a series of techniques to fake it.

That story proves paper thin, and requires believing Amanda is devoid of empathy yet devoted to Lily — concepts too at odds to be plausible together.

This is not for everyone but it’s one of the most intriguing films I’ve seen in awhile. Very dark, quirky, offbeat and different. Fascinating use of soundtrack and dialogue in its pursuit of understanding how emotion, relationships and power are subject to manipulation. Much deeper and darker than the trailer might seem. It’s brilliant if your tastes run in its direction. Not everyone’s taste will run in this direction, though.

Like many others I'm sure, I was intrigued by the trailers and the dark-comedic nature of their approach, as well as the fact that it was the wonderful (and sadly late) Anton Yelchin's final film. Unfortunately, the film fell short of my expectations. Many critics and reviewers have made comparisons to films such as 'Heathers', 'American Psycho', 'Heavenly Creatures', etc., and while their influence is definitely felt in this film, the overall premise and ideas in this film weren't taken full advantage of or expanded upon near enough in my opinion. On top of that, even the ending left me underwhelmed and disappointed. The only real positives that I can think of were the acting of course (Olivia Cooke, Anya Taylor-Joy and Anton Yelchin all turned in great performances as expected), as well as some of the creepy background soundtrack that fit rather nicely with the film's tone, as well as some of the cinematography/tracking shots that really were intriguing to watch. Overall, it's not without some of its unique and intriguing aspects, but for me, they weren't quite enough to make the rest of the film feel totally worthwhile for me.

the premise for this dark comedy, while not new, seems appealling, but ultimately it falls flat

So what's so great about this film? Other than having some promising young actors (and being Anton Yelchin's last film), the plot features amoral, self-indulgent characters, none of whom had any redeeming features. There's two morally flawed teenagers, one young drug dealer, a mostly oblivious mother, and a scheming step father. Surely the two bright (but morally challenged)girls could have come up with a better way to get even with the step father. I really didn't see any humor in the story. Other than the interesting sound effects/score, there weren't many other pleasures.

When I learned that another neurotic coming-of-age narrative film was actually coming into fruition, written and directed by an actual post-millennial, starring the late Anton Yelchin in his final role, as well as Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch, Split) and Olivia Cooke (Me, Earl and the Dying Girl), I could not contain my excitement. Thoroughbreds seemed like a self-aware, startling look into the world of over-privledged high school girls on the road to vengeance; with hints of Ingrid Goes West meets the precision of a David Fincher film. Yet, Cory Finley's debut feature is a puzzling step into a world of teens who are usually overly medicated, defiant and just plain bored. Thoroughbreds starts off very promising, borderline extremely interesting narrative teen angst film; showcasing the relationship between two very opposite and quirky teenage girls who have lost touch since going to high school (think quirk, a LOT of quirk). Amanda, played by the wonderful Olivia Cooke, admits early she is void of all feelings; proving her talents by showing Lily how to fake cry, in what she describes as "the technique", as well as how to not care about anything and how to defy everyone in her world. Lily on the other hand, played wonderfully by the porcelain beauty Anya Taylor-Joy, is an emotional high-schooler who lets the little wealthy nuances of her step-father Mark (Paul Sparks) and her inactive choices of her mother really crawl under her skin, pushing her to the point of no return, birthing an idea for a plan on how to kill her step-father. What began as extra money for Lily to tutor Amanda, quickly becomes a very awkward, strange and one-sided friendship based around the evolution of a plot to killing Lily's uber-rich step-father. Mind you, Lily and Amanda never really think what would actually happen if they did kill a human being, especially when one acknowledges the fact that they spend most of the film drinking his expensive wine; swimming in his luxurious pool and playing with his life-size garden chess pieces in the backyard; but hey, who am I to judge the semantics? When we first meet Amanda and Lily, Finely does a masterful job of capturing us in their web of natural seduction and arousal. Between the denim short-shorts, the summer dresses and low-hanging tops showcasing the young women's sultry and seductive assets, Amanda and Lily are two very attractive young ladies who are unfortunately plagued with what I like to call, a severe case of "first-world problems". Lily can't stand her step father's rowing machine upstairs, or the way her treats her mother, despite her relishing of the newly purchased tanning machine in the basement, or extravagant chef-inspired dinner dishes in the evening. Luckily for Lily, thanks to her newly rekindled relationship with her elementary school weirdo friend Amanda, who recently butchered her favourite riding horse in the family barn, gives Lily the idea and nerve to hatch a plan to kill Mark. Finely shows immense potential as a debut filmmaker. His natural use of getting the best out of his actors with his fluid direction and razor-sharp script, allows the talented young actresses hone in on their naturally seductive characters, mannerisms and nuances. Amanda's constantly witty remarks to justify herself to Lily never grow old; Lily's ferocious delivery of her ideas and counter-arguments to Amanda are entertaining as heck, and the two girls constantly keep the audience engaged throughout. Luckily, aside from Amanda and Lily, the last piece to the puzzle of murder and anarchy is Tim; a sluggish extremist who provides the film with its majority of dark comedy and humour, played mercifully by the late Anton Yelchin. Unfortunately, Yelchin was never able to see the film finished, due to a very tragic and bizarre vehicle freak-accident. Thankfully, Tim is the film's very emotional core; see-sawing between compassionate anti-hero, to logical irrationality, dabbling with hints of disillusionment and false promises. Yelchin has never been better as a battered and bruised stoner, idealist and ultimate dreamer. While I truly admire the bravado of Thoroughbreds, my final feelings for the films lies heavier towards the spoiled and pretentious spectrum of the scale. As a man who one day hopes to have children, it gives little to no hope for being a parent; giving the assumption that teenagers within the middle-class to upper-class realms of Western society, won't like the choices their parents make for them, and maybe just decide to do away with them, and kill them, or at least, think of killing them. I mean, is going to boarding school really that bad, especially when you can't stand your step-dad but still need to abide and live by the rules of his lavish Connecticut mansion? Even when he is as robotic as RoboCop and seems more mild-mannered and polite as Pee-Wee Herman?