
Directed by first time filmmaker Cory Finley and produced by The Way Way
Back directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, Thoroughbreds is a deliciously dark
drama with outstanding performances from Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy.
Two teenagers and former childhood friends Amanda and Lily are reunited
when Amanda's mother hires Lily to help tutor her after a violent incident
with her horse leaves her a social outcast. Lily, living in an affluent
home with her mother and boorish step-father, is initially shocked when
Amanda asks if she'd ever consider killing him if she could get away with
it. Reluctant at first she soon comes around to the idea and a plan is soon set in
motion.
Cory Finley's gloriously black and visually exciting debut is an impressive
film that benefits most from the inspired pairing of Olivia Cooke and Anya
Taylor-Joy. Cooke is compelling as the sociopathic girl that lacks any joy,
empathy or guilt, going through life pretending to be a normal teen to the
best of her ability and often failing. Her description of the violent
incident involving her horse is chilling in its matter of factness. While
Taylor-Joy builds on her promising role in The Witch with an enjoyably icy
but more inwardly emotional turn.
Definitely recommended.