What do you get when you mix together the cynical characters and dark comedy of “Heathers” and the sinister, ominous setting and ambience? You get director Cory Finley’s debut dark comedy “Thoroughbreds.” Surprisingly enough, they turn out to mix very well together.
Set in suburban Connecticut, the story follows childhood friends Amanda (Olivia Cooke) and Lily (Anya Taylor-Joy) who haven’t seen each other in years after having gone separate ways. Amanda, an outcast who has plenty of wit and no emotion, and Lily, who has become wealthy and proper, meet up after a long time and work to find the flaws in each other and rekindle their friendship, working to help one another with their issues. In doing so, they hatch out a plan to murder.
As a playwright himself, Finley could have easily made the mistake of adapting his stage play for the big screen and make it feel more like a play still rather than a motion picture. But it felt like his move to the big screen was almost seamless. Finley sets up an air-tight, almost lethal environment that sets up the cynical, almost sinister nature of the characters in play.
Both Amanda and Lily are at first treated complete opposites, with Amanda being emotionless and relying on her sharp wits and cunning and Lily being filled with emotions and uptight and proper while also easily affected by things around her. However, Finley cleverly displays their attachment to one another and slowly reveals the similarities the two have in common. This is further bolstered by the talented performances of both Cooke and Taylor-Joy and the electric, sharp chemistry they have with one another. The humor they display is deliciously dark and cynically sharp, with both actresses utilizing their on-screen chemistry to perfectly give off shrill, razor-sharp dialogue that creatively reflect the tension-filled, strenuous atmosphere and tone.
Finley cleverly weaves his way into both of the characters’ psyches, displaying their everyday living environments and how they react to numerous situations in different manners. The cynical nature of the story would almost certainly end up being a little hollow for my taste if it wasn’t for the inclusion of Anton Yelchin, who had sadly passed away back in 2016, as the all-bark-no-bite drug dealer Tim. Acting as his final film performance, he certainly does go out with a bang, giving the film a much needed conscience and sense of humanity with a performance that is both vulnerable and intimidating at once.
It should also be worth noting that Finley has stated that director Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror classic “The Shining” was a huge influence for the film, and it most certainly shows. His use of the camera and the mansion in which Lily lives in prove he has a keen eye for capturing the haunting, almost ominous essence of the characters, utilizing tracking shots, rack focus shots, and overhead shots to display an elaborate layout of the environment where the characters interact. Effectively paced and chillingly shot, even when the characters are outside in the bright sun do you feel an uneasy feeling of tension and apprehension.
Overall, “Thoroughbreds” is a sufficiently impressive directorial debut for Cory Finley. With sharp dialogue, effective dark humor, and wonderful performances, especially between the two lead actresses, “Thoroughbreds” is cynicism at its most diabolical.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGIPRZ-RmxM&t=1s&w=585