Editor’s Notice: This evaluation was initially printed throughout the 2024 Toronto Worldwide Movie Competition. Sony Footage Classics releases “On Swift Horses” in theaters Friday, April 25.
“A gambler solely has one obligation: to maintain himself knowledgeable.”
When Julius (Jacob Elordi) dispenses this knowledge to his sister-in-law Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones) he’s ostensibly speaking about dishonest in card video games. However in “On Swift Horses,” his phrases trigger ripples beneath the floor in a makeshift household the place almost everybody resides a lie. He’s a gambler hooked on the highs of life, traversing desert casinos to chase the joys of stealing a fast buck and fleeting connections with homosexual lovers. And he or she’s a married girl whose attraction to different ladies is turning into more durable and more durable to disregard, prompting her to begin betting on horses to fund the sort of double life she’s beginning to suspect she’ll want. Like moths to dueling flames, they have been all the time drawn to one another in a relationship that blurred the road between familial and sexual — however as the 2 gamblers hold their eyes peeled for info, every begins to suspect that the opposite would possibly share of their most closely-guarded secret.
How did we find yourself right here? Julius and his brother Lee (Will Poulter) had lengthy deliberate to go away the Midwest behind after serving in Korea, taking their army pensions and beginning a sunny new life in California. The Eisenhower period was crammed with alternative for Individuals keen to begin residing their post-war lives, and the 2 males noticed nothing however alternative forward of them on the golden coasts. However Julius, a drifting troublemaker who was by no means one to remain in a single place for too lengthy, couldn’t deliver himself to stay to the plan. His strait-laced brother wasn’t keen to attend round for him, so he marries Muriel and buys a plot of land whereas they look ahead to his black sheep brother to determine his life out.
Julius may be unreliable, however he’s very loyal, popping out and in of their lives with semi-regularity as he pursues his personal lifetime of journey. His knack for counting playing cards takes him to Las Vegas, the place he cons his means right into a job as a on line casino safety guard tasked with catching cheaters utilizing the very methods he perfected. Whereas lurking within the rafters, he strikes up a detailed friendship with Henry (Diego Calva), a fellow card cheat who had the identical thought about going legit. Issues rapidly warmth up between them, and so they’re quickly shacking up collectively debating whether or not they need to transfer to California to be close to Lee and Muriel or bolt for Tijuana the place they may construct themselves a fort.
However whereas Julius is content material to maintain their playing cards near their well-toned chests, Henry is itching to return out of the shadows. He begs Julius to return to playing, proposing that they begin working collectively to cheat in casinos round Vegas. His request has much less to do with playing than a want to be seen in public along with his boyfriend, however Julius’ pragmatism prevails till it turns into a serious sticking level of their relationship. When Henry is ultimately caught playing, he’s despatched away and the 2 lovers are separated indefinitely.
In the meantime in California, Muriel is doing a a lot better job of getting her cake and consuming it too. Whereas Lee does handbook labor all day, her job as a diner waitress affords her entry to native gamblers who spill secrets and techniques about horse racing whereas she eavesdrops. As soon as she begins putting her personal bets, she rapidly finally ends up with a large revenue that enables her to construct a nest egg whereas working far fewer shifts. She makes use of her free time to discover her sexuality, following her crushes from the tracks to the native homosexual bar earlier than placing up a connection of her personal together with her neighbor Sandra (Sasha Calle) whereas daydreaming about what Julius may be as much as.
Julius and Muriel take totally different paths in direction of the identical purpose, however the trade-offs of every method start to disclose themselves with time. He eschewed societal conventions and lived his life within the sorts of fringe areas that have been accessible to queer individuals in Nineteen Fifties America, which allowed him to pursue his wishes extra aggressively however positioned him in additional hazard. She prioritized security, doing her greatest to take care of the facade of a loving marriage whereas dipping her toe into the waters of same-sex relationship. However whereas she all the time had a roof over her head and a spot in society, she unintentionally hurts everybody round her by being half in and half out of each relationship.
Elordi and Edgar-Jones seamlessly embody the 2 misplaced souls, every taking part in to their very own strengths whereas remaining related by an invisible thread of frequent ache. Elordi performs the robust and silent kind, flaunting his attractive facade whereas revealing infinite quantities of ache behind his eyes. And Edgar-Jones’ Muriel is a rigorously manufactured persona that’s all the time strolling on eggshells, by no means fairly being her true self for the concern {that a} shadow lurking across the nook may be ready to catch her within the act. But the enjoyment that each emit after they’re collectively, even in platonic moments, fills them with a way of company and humanity that usually evades characters in queer interval items that lean too closely on struggling porn.
“On Swift Horses” is a surprising tableau of almost-romances, weaving collectively ephemeral moments of magic with the ache that inevitably follows when the universe takes them away. Among the finest features of Daniel Minahan’s movie is the truth that it lacks a traditional villain. Everybody — even Lee, whose very existence is the most important impediment in direction of Julius and Muriel residing truthfully — makes their greatest effort to be a superb particular person in a world that appears decided to take everybody away from them.
Bryce Kass’ script (primarily based on Shannon Pufahl’s novel of the identical title) straddles an excellent line between sentimentality and bitterness, whereas Minahan and cinematographer Luc Montipellier shoot every little thing from torrid intercourse scenes to Christmas Eve moonlight strolls with the magnificence that it deserves. The result’s a cinematic love story that unfolds with the sort of lovely uncertainty that its playing heroes face day by day. In love, like on the casinos and the tracks, success is much from assured — if something, it’s statistically unlikely. However generally, the life-affirming act of taking the prospect to start with is sufficient to make all of it value it.
Grade: A-
“On Swift Horses” premiered at TIFF 2024. Sony Footage Classics releases the movie Friday, April 25, 2025.
Need to keep updated on IndieWire’s movie evaluations and significant ideas? Subscribe right here to our newly launched publication, In Assessment by David Ehrlich, during which our Chief Movie Critic and Head Opinions Editor rounds up the most effective evaluations, streaming picks, and affords some new musings, all solely accessible to subscribers.