Film Review: Thoroughbreds (2018)
Written and directed by Corey Finley, Thoroughbreds is a thriller with a dark-comedic tone. The story centers on two friends who've grown apart but are meeting up for the first time in a long time. Lily (played by Anya Taylor-Joy) is seemingly academic and lives in a mansion with her step-father and mother. Visitor Amanda (played by Olivia Cooke) is currently facing charges of animal cruelty having taken it upon herself to euthanise her injured horse. She's cold and seems to have no feelings, all of which allows her to be unnaturally pragmatic. In an unlikely turn of events they rekindle their friendship and hatch a rather violent plan.
Much like Amanda, the film is devoid of emotion and feels rather flat, something I'm sure is intentional. There are some darkly funny moments and the story keeps you guessing to some extent but it wasn't really thrilling enough as a thriller, or amusing enough as a dark comedy.
The cinematography is perhaps the film's strong point, it gives the film a tension when there was little to be tense about beyond the uncomfortably large size of the house they were inhabiting. The lack of much music only adds to this tension.
There's no doubt the film is well packaged: the acting is good, it looks good and it's reasonably well paced. But while I enjoyed the film on the surface for those things, I struggled to find much underneath to really keep me engaged. For me it's a classic case of style over substance.