On Swift Horses

Grade: B-

If On Swift Horses isn’t based on a book, it totally could have been one originally. Let me go check. I’m back. It is also a book. Of course it is. It has a plot and narrative style akin to a soap opera or radio melodrama. There is a lot that happens, and yet, somehow, not enough happens at the same time.

We’re in the second half of the 1950s, and we meet Muriel and Lee – not married yet, but he has popped the question a few times before, and he will get the answer he wants, finally, when we first see them on Christmas Eve. Lee’s younger brother Julius joins them for the modest holiday festivities in their secluded country home. Julius is quite easy on the eyes, and when he gets a scene or two alone with Muriel, it may cause concern – but we’ll find out later why this is a non-issue.

There is wonderful, lush cinematography, and the performances are top-notch. After the opening scenes show so much promise, the film devolves – and even starts being surprisingly boring – as the characters separate and subplot after subplot is introduced. I will add my voice to the critics who have compared On Swift Horses to Carol and Far From Heaven. Those movies, as this one does, involve characters who are secretly homosexual, and take place in a time where that was still taboo to many people. In this film’s case, the people who matter in their lives are ok with the fact that they’re gay. So what’s the conflict? More than one character is secretly gay. There’s a horse in the movie. What’s next, I thought. Is the horse going to come out of the stable?

Characters intertwine through unbelievable coincidences and flukes. They are unaware that they are associated with each other, and say lines that pertain to what’s going on – unknowingly, of course. The cast brought me to On Swift Horses, and they don’t disappoint, even if their movie sometimes does. Daisy Edgar-Jones (Twisters, Where the Crawdads Sing) brings her usual sweet charm to Muriel. Smooth-talking Julius is played by Jacob Elordi (Saltburn, Priscilla, Deep Water). Diego Calva, from the underrated Babylon, shows up. And Will Poulter, as Lee, is already the MVP multitasker of 2025, having appeared in Warfare and Death of a Unicorn. He has a mean-looking face which suggests he could play a good bully, but is the most likable character here. Nobody’s perfect, but Lee does the least amount of things wrong.

As busy as the plot is, it doesn’t build up to anything satisfying or compelling, nor does it put a good period at the end. We seem to just see a bunch of things happen, and then we get the end credits. However, I’m glad I saw On Swift Horses. It looks great, sounds great, and there’s a reason why these actors have been working so much right now. They make it enough of a success to recommend. It has “melodrama” and “based on a novel” written all over it, and not necessarily in the positive sense – but still, there’s something here.

Grade: B-