SXSW Film Review: On Swift Horses

When your whole world seems monochromatic, it can be hard to recognize that you are a horse of a different color. That’s somewhat the predicament faced by the central characters in this 1950s-set drama, existing in a time when coloring outside the lines could seem dangerously transgressive.

On Swift Horses opens on a snowy one-lane road. A man, Julius (Jacob Elordi), waits patiently for a ride while shuffling a deck of cards. The next sequence cuts to a couple in bed engaged in sex. They are Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Lee (Will Poulter). Julius is just home from the Korean War and headed toward his brother Lee’s place in Kansas. While secretly smoking a post-coital cig in the upstairs bathroom and blowing the smoke out the window, Muriel spies Julius below lying bare-chested across the hood of their car. Following this “meet-cute” and a Christmas holiday spent together, viewers are left with the impression that there may be romantic sparks developing between Julius and his future sister-in-law. But the reality is that Muriel and Julius instead sense a spiritual camaraderie in the other, a feeling of being constrained by the social norms of the times. “You see through all the supposed-to’s,” Julius tells Muriel right before Lee once again proposes marriage to her.

For the next two hours, On Swift Horses proceeds by crosscutting between the separate lives of Muriel and Julius. Back in Kansas, all three of them had agreed on a plan to move to California when the men receive their Army discharges. Young marrieds Lee and Muriel head straightway to San Diego where they buy a home and begin their pursuit of the American Dream. Julius takes a different route west, gambling and turning homosexual tricks along the way, until he lands in Las Vegas where he secures a job at a casino. Soon he enters into a live-in romantic relationship with Henry (Calva), a co-worker, which further delays Julius’ departure for California. Meanwhile, Muriel overhears horse-betting tips from the railbirds who frequent the diner where she waitresses, and soon develops a secret taste for gambling as her stockpile of winnings accumulates. Along with the money, her sense of independence grows as she pursues a clandestine affair with her lesbian neighbor Sandra (Calle).

The social conformity and traditional mores of the Eisenhower era are evident in full force throughout the movie. Adapted by Bryce Kass from Shannon Pufahl’s 2019 novel, On Swift Horses may call to mind other movies depicting homosexuality and general self-repression during that period, such as Carol, Far From Heaven, and Revolutionary Road. Prolific television director Daniel Minahan marks his second feature film (following 2001’s reality TV satire Series 7: The Contenders) and has a terrific feel for the details of the period. Still, the constant back-and-forth crosscutting inclines the viewer to expect an eventual coupling between Julius and Muriel, rather than spotlighting them out as kindred spirits willing to gamble on life. The performances are all strong, especially that of Edgar-Jones, although their embodiment of Fifties characters isn’t always fully convincing. Minahan allows a little too much romanticism to poke through the project, particularly in a scene that was not in the book in which Muriel searches for Julius in a San Diego gay bar. The movie also concludes on a romanticized note that doesn’t feel authentic. Nevertheless, On Swift Horses presents a potent picture of the faultlines simmering below the American surface.

Sony Pictures Classics will release On Swift Horses in theatres on April 25.

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On Swift Horses

Festival Favorite, U.S. Premiere

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