Thoroughbreds (2017)

I loved this trippy, darkly comedic, psychological thriller about two girls, one more obviously damaged than the other, who form a friendship and start a "project." The title refers not only to a horse who figures prominently in the plot, but also to the fact that these teenagers are crazy rich and live in extreme luxury. Jack and I had been so blown away by the trailer a month or so ago that I made a note of the title and went to see it last Thursday when he was busy.

Olivia Cooke's (her first appearance in these pages was as the girl in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl) Amanda is the more damaged one--in the trailer it says "she feels nothing," whereas Anya Taylor-Joy's (new to me despite a handful of credits) Lily "...feels everything." They're terrific, as is Anton Yelchin (last blogged for Only Lovers Left Alive). His performance as their misguided acquaintance Tim, which is unlike anything else I've seen him do, underscores the tragedy of his accidental death at the age of 27 in June, 2016, when his Jeep rolled into him in his Studio City driveway. Paul Sparks (I've seen him in many projects, including Rachel Getting Married, Synechdoche, New York, Please Give, Afterschool, Mud, 56 episodes of Boardwalk Empire as the giggling Mickey Doyle, and 27 episodes of House of Cards as writer Thomas Yates, but hadn't mentioned him here yet) is terrifying as Lily's dreadful stepfather.

Cory Finley makes his feature debut as both director and writer with what he originally intended to be a stage play but fleshed it out into a screenplay.

Cellist Erik Friedlander also debuts with a soundtrack that is about as untraditional as possible, with ambient music, wordless vocals, and drum solos (there was a "featured percussionist" in the credits but it went by too quickly for me to note). The soundtrack album has been released and is available on spotify and the usual outlets.

Shot in Tewksbury and Cohasset, Massachusetts (northwest and southeast of Boston, respectively) and rated by Rotten Tomatoes' critics at 84% and its audiences at 71, this is well worth your while if you can manage a great deal of cringe. DVD and streaming release is estimated for June of 2018.