Clothes obviously change throughout the film, but the dress code for Reynolds and Amanda is always constant — high collars and tiny shorts or skirts. Since they’re mostly shot from the waist or neck up, it’s always kind of a shock when their legs make it into a shot and they’re suddenly revealed to be half-naked. In a film this meticulous, there’s obviously some degree of meaning there. Images courtesy Focus Features.
9/10 With Hollywood seemingly unable to produce more than a few movies a year without obvious gaffs, Thoroughbreds is a refreshing spurt of disciplined, technically perfect filmmaking and the birth of a new star in writer/director Cory Finley.
In a wealthy Connecticut suburb, childhood friends Lily Reynolds (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Amanda (Olivia Cooke) are consumed by wealth-driven apathy. Amanda suffers from borderline personality disorder and is under investigation for brutally killing her family’s horse. Reynolds is still reeling from the death of her father years earlier, which is exacerbated by her new stepfather Mark (Paul Sparks) being a giant prick. Together, they plot to blackmail a hapless drug dealer, Tim (Anton Yelchin), into murdering him.
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