On Swift Horses

Daniel Minahan, noted director of many prestige TV dramas, and screenwriter Bryce Kass (Lizzie) adapt Shannon Pufahl's 2019 novel into a sweeping domestic drama worthy of the big screen. Daisy Edgar-Jones (Fresh, Where the Crawdads Sing, Twisters) stars as Muriel, a young 1950s Kansas woman starting a new life in California after marrying her sweetheart Lee, following his return from fighting in the Korean War. Will Poulter (We're the Millers, The Revenant, Midsommar) plays Lee as a simple, decent young guy who hopes his charismatic but wayward younger brother Julius will move out to San Diego and build their new life together. Jacob Elordi (The Sweet East, Saltburn, Priscilla) plays Julius, who doesn't view the wide-eyed '50s future his brother dreams of as a paradise, and instead heads to Las Vegas to work as a hustler and card sharp. The film follows all three of the characters as they try to figure themselves out. Muriel and Julius are drawn to each other, but are unsure if it's a sexual attraction between them or an understanding that they are both bisexual beings in a straight world. Perhaps it's both, but neither of them possesses the words to communicate their feelings fully.

In Vegas, Julius hooks up with Henry (Diego Calva) and finds happiness living and working with him. But what they share isn't enough for Henry. Muriel becomes involved with her neighbor Sandra (Sasha Calle) after realizing why the life she's living with the husband she loves has never felt satisfying to her. The film and all five of these actors have an incredible ability to look and behave in ways that simultaneously feel period-accurate and contemporary. It's great to see a queer movie set in '50 in which the gays, bis, and lesbians outnuber the straights by about 70 to 1—though it makes one of the key lines spoken by one of the quintet, "it can be hard for folks like us to find each other" ring a little odd in a context in which "folks like them" turn up virtually ever time a new character is introduced. Still, the specifics of that statement work well as a lead into On Swift Horses' moving ending.

Minahan and Canadian cinematographer Luc Montpellier (Away from Her, The Cry of the Owl, Women Talking) give this intimate picture the feel, if not the exact look, of a grand widescreen western. Kass's screenplay and the editing by Joe Murphy, Robert Frazen, and Kate Sanford give the film and the characters a good deal of breathing room, enabling the viewer to experience the events and emotions as the characters do. It's refreshing to watch a film set in the past move roughly at the speed of a movie from the past without ever feeling slow. Not every narrative beat feels credible or works perfectly, but this doesn't prevent On Swift Horses from sweeping you up in the drama and interplay of the characters.