Your
guide in English to films showing in Germany.
Opening 29 May 2025
Directed by:
Daniel Minahan
Writing credits:
Bryce Kass, Shannon Pufahl
Principal actors:
Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Muriel, Will Poulter, Diego Calva, Sasha Calle
Shannon Pufahl’s 2019 debut eponymous novel quietly dissects three distinctly individualist, complex characters hopes, dreams, sexual needs, and expectations. Undaunted, director Daniel Minahan cinematically interpretates On Swift Horses, opening on the pancake-flat plains of Kansas in the 1950s. Julius’ (Jacob Elordi) unannounced Christmastime visit causes entanglements. Lee, (Will Poulter) ecstatically praising his younger devil-may-care brother to Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones), tells her about their scheme. Its springboard is San Diego, California, and “the plan” will keep them together, while setting them free.
Following two wars—the Korean and World War ll—the country is on the move. Lee’s pedantic approach is realistic, measured; he craves normalcy, based on his unconventional, unhappy childhood. Still missing her late mother, Muriel oscillates between figuring out what she wants in life and the irrefutable magnetism between Julius and her. Julius, comfortable with being different, a gambler and mobile, knows his desires are counter-constructive for Lee; he detours to Las Vegas. In California, the couple inhale its “magical” abundance finding jobs and settling in. Muriel, eavesdropping at work, learns horseplayer’s insider tips; she feels the thrill of risk-taking at the racetrack, meets the infamous Gail (Kat Cunning), then single-mindedly pursues profit. Lee’s pursuit is a home in the Valley; new neighbor Sandra (Sasha Calle) introduces Muriel to more than olives; Julius hooks a job in a casino. Co-worker Henry (Diego Calva), vivacious and energetic, immerses Julius in love, showing him “America,” i.e., watching atomic bomb testing, and concocts a new plan for winning. For gamblers, who is to say winning on a horse is not the ultimate jackpot.
Bryce Kass alternates his sparsely worded adaptation’s story between Julius and Muriel’s perspectives. It moseys from Kansas westward, between Las Vegas and San Diego, dipping into Mexico. The strong cast physically interpretate what people read between the lines—innuendos, intimations, nuances. Watch their body language, facial expressions, tonal inflections. “Have you ever been in love?” elicits tangled responses from different characters. Production values are solid: Luc Montpellier’s cinematography, Robert Frazen, Joe Murphy, Kate Sanford’s editing. Mark Orton’s score and music supervisor Robin Urdang’s song choices set the nostalgia tone that production designer Erin Magill, art directors Elizabeth Newton and Kate Weddle, and set director Melissa Licht aesthetically embody. Three separate journeys, different yet entwined, rebellious and contradictory, courageous and fragile. (Marinell Haegelin)
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