ABC Film Challenge – Thriller – T – Thoroughbreds (2017)

Director: Cory Finley

Writer: Cory Finley (Screenplay)

Starring: Olivia Cooke, Anya Taylor-Joy, Anton Yelchin, Paul Sparks, Francie Swift, Kaili Vernoff

Plot: Two upper-class teenage girls in suburban Connecticut rekindle their unlikely friendship after years of growing apart. Together, they hatch a plan to solve both of their problems-no matter what the cost.

Tagline – Good Breeding Gone Bad

Runtime: 1 Hour 32 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Strange Thriller

Story: Thoroughbreds starts when two former friends Amanda (Cooke) and Lily (Taylor-Joy) reunite to after years apart, as Lily is asked to help Amanda with her education. The reunion starts off by feeling awkward as it is known that Amanda has done something that as isolated from the upper-class neighbourhood they are from.

After Amanda notices how much Lily is struggling with her step-father Mark (Sparks) she suggests to kill him, the two put a plan together using local drug dealer Tim (Yelchin) to get the job done.

Thoughts on Thoroughbreds

Characters – Lily comes from one of the rich families in Connecticut, she ha be raised for boarding school away from the rest of the people her age in the neighbourhood, she opens up to her old friend with a troubled past, as she learns about getting a chance to escape this life she isn’t enjoying. Amanda is teenager that has done something horrific, she is struggling in school and sent to be tutored by her old friend to help with her college future, she is emotionally closed off from the world, though pushes Lily into doing the unthinkable. Tim is the local drug dealer that has a reputation of only dealing with minors which sees him be selected by the girls to complete the murder for them. Mark is the stepfather that Lily doesn’t get on with him, he is a control freak making the life of Lily more difficult.

Performances – Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy in the leading roles gives us the standout performances in this film, they both show us the struggles they are feeling as we see how their plan starts to unfold. Anton Yelchin in the main supporting role showed us one again why he will be missed too.

Story – The story here follows two upper class teenagers that have very different problems in their lives, they reconnect after years apart learning they could help solve each other problems. This is a heavily conversation lead movie that puts the main two characters through discussions of killing problems in their lives and just how they could get away with it. The big weakness with the film is that it doesn’t address the mental health problems that both the women are going through. This story tries to be quirky in what gets done, only for it to feel anti-climactic.

Comedy/Crime – This must be classed as a dark comedy, because it didn’t seem to make me laugh once, the crime side of the film circles around the idea of what the two girls want to do and how they can get away with it.

Settings – The film is set in the upper-class area of Connecticut, showing how the girls can easily look down on people that they can walk over, this is a big factor for the style of the film.