Thoroughbreds Review

Article by Gabe Zia

Lazy Film Critic Movie Reviews

Thoroughbreds

So after 2 months of a really slow start to the year with little to no interesting releases and only one good movie so-far, I was skeptical going into Thoroughbreds. It was a directorial debut, and the premise based on the trailers seemed to be heavily teetering into melodramatic violent teen movie territory. But it also featured two leads who are some of the best youth actors working today and was the last movie of the late Anton Yelchin, so for me that was enough to give it a try. And hey, not only was I not disappointed by the end result, but I was also thoroughly impressed with its execution.

As I said, one of the main reasons I wanted to watch this movie was the leads, Anya Taylor-Joy has proven to have remarkable talent as an actor with movies like Split and The Witch, and Olivia Cooke showed remarkable comedic talent in underrated gem "Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl". They're playing starkly different characters here, each playing to their great talents. Where Taylor-Joy shines with heavy emotional work, playing a ranged character with lots of complex emotions, Cooke stands out as well as a surprisingly hilarious deadpan comic relief with amazing timing and delivery. It's hard to tell at times how much of it is fully scripted or if some of her lines are ad-libbed simply from how naturally she sells it.

Director Cory Finley has had success in the theatre world prior to this movie, and it really shows in the way this movie is written. The structure into a 4 act story is done exceptionally well, allowing each quarter of the movie to feel fluid and connected without feeling as though I'm having the movie be split up for no reason. The dialogue is also outstanding, as I said before the delivery and emotions from the two leads is great and it works immensely well with the lines they've been given. Snarky, witty dialogue that feels realistic at the same time is my favorite kind of dialogue, back and forth that's engaging on its own even if nothing else is really happening. It's the kind of thing I'd see from Sorkin or Tarantino, and it's really impressive to see this kind of talent from a first timer without it feeling like its leaning heavily on anyone elses style.

And this bleeds into the direction as well, which is even more interesting. Despite his lack of experience Cory Finley displays an impressive amount of knowledge and talent in framing, lighting, colour scheme, and use of negative space. However, this isn't the first time a directorial debut has demonstrated immense talent - just look at Dan Gilroys Nightcrawler. What makes Thoroughbreds especially impressive as a directorial debut however is that it showcases a very original voice and style - something even seasoned directors have difficulty showing. It's very easy and common for a newcomer director to mimic the styles of Ridley Scott or Tarantino - in fact those two being mimicked by newcomers is pretty common - but instead of doing that Cory Finley firmly establishes his own voice in the filmmaking scene, and creates a movie that is fully and in every sense of the word his own.

Final Rating
In a year that so-far has not impressed at all, Thoroughbreds comes in like a bolt of lightening with a fresh new voice in the filmmaking scene. It's funny, it's dark, it's emotional when it needs to be, it has great writing, amazing direction, and two very entertaining lead performances. Thoroughbreds is a movie I would recommend to pretty much everybody, if there's a new release to see this weekend, it's definitely this one.