On Swift Horses

On Swift Horses
Directed by	Daniel Minahan
Screenplay by	Bryce Kass
Based on	On Swift Horses by Shannon Pufahl
Produced by	Peter Spears Mollye Asher Tim Headington Theresa Steele Page Michael D’Alto
Starring	Daisy Edgar-Jones Jacob Elordi Will Poulter Diego Calva Sasha Calle
Cinematography	Luc Montpellier
Edited by	Joe Murphy Robert Frazen Kate Sanford
Music by	Mark Orton
Production companies	Ley Line Entertainment Cor Cordium Wavelength FirstGen Content Killer Films
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Classics
Release date	September 7, 2024 (2024-09-07) (TIFF)
Running time	117 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

On Swift Horses is a 2024 American drama film directed by Daniel Minahan, with Bryce Kass adapting the script from the novel by Shannon Pufahl of the same name. Ley Line Entertainment, FirstGen Content and Cor Cordium produce the project, which has an ensemble cast which includes Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elordi, Will Poulter, Diego Calva and Sasha Calle.

It had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2024.

Premise

Muriel and her husband Lee are beginning a bright new life in California following his return from the Korean War, which is upended by the arrival of Lee’s charismatic younger brother, Julius. Lee is keen for the three of them to build a new life together in San Diego, but Julius disappears and heads for Las Vegas instead, where he finds employment in a casino and begins a secret romantic relationship with a male co-worker, Henry. Muriel embarks on a secret life of her own, gambling on racehorses, and discovering a love she never thought possible after meeting Sandra.

Cast

• Daisy Edgar-Jones as Muriel, Lee's wife
• Jacob Elordi as Julius, Lee's gambling brother and Korean War veteran
• Will Poulter as Lee, Muriel's husband and Julius' brother
• Diego Calva as Henry, casino worker
• Sasha Calle as Sandra, Muriel's neighbor
• Don Swayze as Terence

Production

Producer Peter Spears and director Daniel Minahan started the project in July 2021 with Ley Line Entertainment and Bryce Kass adapting the novel by Shannon Pufahl. Mollye Asher, Tim Headington, Theresa Steele Page, and Michael D'Alto also served as producers, with financing from Ley Line Entertainment and FirstGen alongside Wavelength. Alvaro Valente and script-writer Bryce Kass are executive producers as are Killer Films' Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler, Nate Kamiya and David Darby of Ley Line, Randal Sandler, Claude Amadeo and Chris Triana for FirstGen, and Jennifer Westphal and Joe Plummer for Wavelength.

Filming

Principal photography was confirmed to have started on the production in Los Angeles on February 28, 2023. Diego Calva told Variety that he and Jacob Elordi have some "pretty hot scenes".

Release

It had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2024. In October 2024, Sony Pictures Classics acquired distribution rights to the film in North and Latin America, Turkey, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, India, Italy, Australia and New Zealand.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 65% of 17 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.9/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Jourdain Searles of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the film is "beautiful, heartbreaking, and demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible. Elordi gives his best performance yet as Julius, showing his more sensitive, vulnerable side on the big screen for perhaps the first time. His love scenes with Calva are tender and exciting…Calva proves his memorable turn in the underrated Babylon two years ago was just a warm-up. He's got so much more to offer." Regarding Edgar-Jones, Searles wrote that "in perhaps her meatiest role since Normal People, Edgar-Jones gives an understated performance as Muriel, letting us get to know her through subtle gestures and expressions."

Christian Zilko of IndieWire gave the film a grade of A-, praising the writing, cinematography, and direction: "Bryce Kass's script (based on Shannon Pufahl's novel of the same name) straddles an ideal line between sentimentality and bitterness, while [director] Minahan and cinematographer Luc Montpellier shoot everything from torrid sex scenes to Christmas Eve moonlight strolls with the elegance that it deserves.”

Nicolas Rapold of the Financial Times wrote that "Minahan and his cast don't reduce Julius's or Muriel's affairs to a vehicle for prestige tragedy or steamy entertainment. Their experiences feel as if they might reflect any one of countless lives or loves constrained by social conformity and bias at the time. While glamour could dazzle on screens and red carpets at the festival, the handsome stars…are put in the service of something that at times can feel even rarer—ordinary emotional truths."

Meanwhile, in a more dissenting review, Pete Hammond of Deadline Hollywood contends that too many plot developments are interwoven "throughout this disjointed movie, which can't seem to decide which thread to follow or which character to focus on, and so it does it all. Edgar-Jones also seems to have a tough time getting a real handle on just who Muriel is…Poulter is the poor lost soul in all this, and he could have been the antagonist…but he's really a good old boy. Elordi is becoming one of the most interesting actors around, especially after Saltburn and Euphoria have cemented his sex symbol bona fides. If they ever remake Hud, he's the guy. However, it is Calva, the discovery from Damien Chazelle's Babylon, who is the standout, an intriguing character to be sure. And Calva hits all the right notes—in and out of bed with Elordi. [Also] Montpellier's golden-hued cinematography really reflects California's allure of the times, and the film looks terrific."

External links

• On Swift Horses at IMDb
• On Swift Horses at Ley Line Entertainment
• On Swift Horses at TIFF