Most of Thoroughbreds, Cory Finley's sharp and dark directorial debut, takes place in a lavish yet oppressive Connecticut mansion. Amanda is no longer allowed near the stables — not since a gruesome act hinted at in the opening scene (and mercifully left to our imaginations). When they enlist Tim (the late Finley’s direction matches the performances to a T, coupling Erik Friedlander’s unnerving kettle drum-and-dissonant string score with austere long takes, marginalizing Cooke and Taylor-Joy within endless opulent spaces as often as possible.

The other is composer Erik Friedlander, a cellist who manipulates his instrument to achieve various atonal effects — boinks and sproings, or else noises that sound like cats screeching and dogs barking — which act in disconcerting counterpoint to the relatively refined visuals.These two disciplines meld beautifully with Finley’s accomplished sense of blocking and timing, yielding a film that presents an image far richer than its mid-seven-figure budget might suggest. The house in which much of the film unfolds is a cipher, a lushly decorated pile of nothingness filled only with the young womens’ planning and the endlessly grating noise of Mark’s rowing machine in another part of the mansion. A decade-older loser stuck on the periphery of their privileged world (which he had the chance to occupy in 2007’s “Charlie Barlett”), Yelchin’s character sells weed to teens whose monthly allowance exceeds his entire net worth, and dreams of clawing his way up to their station, though he’s essentially harmless (watch how he wimpers at the sight of his own blood), which merely serves to underscore just how twisted the two young women are.As a playwright turned feature film director, Finley adapts to the new medium as if it was his calling all along. Variety and the Flying V logos are trademarks of Variety Media, LLC. Film Review: Thoroughbreds Captures the Lifestyles of the Rich and Amoral Cory Finley's assured directorial debut immerses itself in the cool logic of sociopathy But unlike other dark comedies to make the jump (“Mean Girls” director Mark Waters’ “The House of Yes” comes to mind), Finley displays a natural cinematic instinct, treating the baroque, marble-lined mansion where the film principally unfolds not as a closed-in set, but a kind of tiger sanctuary, prowling the location in long, restless takes — whether it’s stalking an SUV up the gravel driveway or lurking behind a door jam, carving knife in hand, while two characters stare each other down in the adjacent room.Two collaborators in particular raise Finley’s game, giving “Thoroughbreds” its uniquely unnerving personality: First is cinematographer Lyle Vincent (“A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night”), who shoots in widescreen, working with a relatively narrow depth of field, which allows him to subtly ease our focus precisely where he wants it (as in an outdoor lawn-chess set, shifting the power between Lily and Amanda within a single shot). The film's plot involves a couple of upper class teenagers, Amanda and Lily. Meanwhile, Taylor-Joy carries enough secrets behind her endlessly expressive eyes for both. Film Review: ‘Thoroughbreds’ Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy play rich kids with a dark side in this remarkable debut from East Coast playwright Cory Finley. Both are clearly far smarter than their classmates, but they lack something when it comes to simple people skills. Focus Features proudly presents writer/director Cory Finley's feature film debut Thoroughbreds The dark thriller which premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival tells of two teenage girls [Anya Taylor-Joy, Olivia Cooke] in suburban Connecticut rekindle their unlikely friendship after years of growing apart. "Meet the Inmate Who Attacked R Kelly with a Pen in JailDave Grohl and 10-Year-Old Nandi Bushell Face Off in Drum Battle: WatchRick Moranis Makes First On-Screen Appearance in 23 Years Alongside Ryan Reynolds in Cell Phone CommercialRobert Pattinson Is The Batman in Nirvana-Soundtracked First Trailer: WatchWe noticed that you visited our new website design. “Thoroughbreds” doesn’t look or sound anything like other teen-centric movies, but this is hardly a surface-only character study. Read Next: Ben Affleck Film ‘Hypnotic’ at Center of COVID Insurance Lawsuit It’s an unconscionable and completely inappropriate suggestion — the kind that only someone with Amanda’s blunt, cold-bloodedly pragmatic attitude could make, although it’s just the sort of hypothetical that attracts us to the works of “Strangers on a Train” novelist Patricia Highsmith, or more outrageously, films like “Jawbreaker” and “Heathers,” whose influence can also be found lurking beneath this movie’s elegant surface.Rather than get their hands dirty, Lily and Amanda initially try to convince a pathetic local drug dealer (played by the late Anton Yelchin, to whom the film is dedicated) to stage a robbery that might plausibly end in Mark being shot.

The film does not go for cheap scenes of indicating sexual references or anything like that and that's okay. “Thoroughbreds” premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, just a few weeks after Finley’s 28th birthday. © Copyright 2020 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. The latter could be said of Lily (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Amanda (Olivia Cooke), childhood best friends from posh Connecticut families whose days of horseback riding are far behind them.

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