Gemma Creagh bets it all on Daniel Minahan’s period drama On Swift Horses.
In her family home in rural Kansas, Muriel Edwards (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Lee Walker (Will Poulter) build something that resembles a home together. While Muriel is outwardly compliant as a modern 1950s woman should be, she often hides parts of herself, secretly smoking out her own window or stashing money away. When Lee’s brother, Julius Walker (Jacob Elordi), visits unexpectedly, he brings with him the sense of something dangerous. Deep and sensuous, there is a spark between them. Julius teaches her the rules of gambling, and how to cheat successfully. Finally, the night before Lee ships out to Korea, he proposes to Muriel one final time, and she finally accepts.
As newlyweds, Muriel and Lee move to San Diego and begin their new life amid the hustle and bustle of this multicultural city. Meanwhile, Julius remains on the road, delaying his promise of joining them time and time again. His nomadic life as a male escort, gambling to earn his fortune, proves chaotic. His only real sense of connection is found in his brief calls and his letters to Muriel. This ink is all that tethers their otherwise separate lives. In the café where Muriel waits tables for brash gamblers and horsemen, she quietly picks up racing tips. Using Julius’s lessons, she turns her meagre tips into something more substantial. Elated after a near impossible win, Muriel meets the vivacious Gail (Kat Cunning). Gail invites Muriel to The Chester, a club that serves as a home to the queer community.
In Las Vegas, Julius lands a job in a casino, where he meets Henry (Diego Calva). Beautiful, ambitious and bold, Henry is a man with nothing to lose. The pair fall into a passionate relationship but things take a dark turn when Henry decides to scam the dangerous men they work for. When Julius arrives in San Diego, desperate and seeking help from Muriel to find his lover, a betrayal unleashes far-reaching consequences for them both.
While this was director Daniel Minahan’s debut feature, he was no stranger to big productions and even bigger budgets. Minahan honed his craft by helming shows like Game of Thrones, Deadwood, The L Word, Six Feet Under and True Blood. He brought his rich understanding of character, world-building and immersive storytelling to this feature, not a bother on him. On Swift Horses was adapted from Shannon Pufahl’s 2019 novel of the same name, although with some character and structural changes. There were allegedly fewer horses, confirmed additional letter voiceovers, and in this iteration Julius was notably warmer.
While no official budget was tied to the film, the qualified spend on production in California was $11,587,000. Production designer Jeriana San Juan commented that they “didn’t have much of a budget on this film,” referring to the production as “a labour of love.” The implication here is that this was potentially a modest spend for a production of this scale, which made the film’s technical elements and gorgeous realisation of all things 1950s Americana all the more impressive. San Juan’s grounded production design is nothing short of stylish, tactile and exquisite. Her wonderful work is then framed cinematically by DOP Luc Montpellier, whose lens captured not only the expansive California landscape but also the nuanced emotion and physical connection underpinning these intimate relationships. And while each sexual encounter was justified and served both the character and the story, they are frequent, well covered in terms of angles and not brief. Perhaps this may not be the best title to stick on with in-laws or distant acquaintances with a penchant for pearl clutching.
There is a duality to the journey of the two leads that is captured beautifully in the writing of Bryce Kass’s script. It is far from a straightforward task to adapt such internal characters, and his deftly woven narrative is further elevated by the cast. Jacob Elordi delivers a vulnerable performance as a man who, on paper, is a liar, cheat and thief. Meanwhile, Daisy Edgar-Jones brings quiet determination to Muriel, whose agency is curtailed at every turn. When Lee pushes her to sell her mother’s house, as a married woman in the 1950s she cannot have her name on the deed of her new home. Another example of how the Hispanic, queer and female characters here operate under a different set of rules than Lee. Well-meaning, oblivious, Lee is still a sympathetic figure though, as Poulter imbues him with such inherent warmth. There are no real antagonists in this story, just murky choices, random thugs and bad luck.
As the atomic bomb detonates in the desert and Laika, the poor Soviet cosmonaut dog, dies in space, the unravelling of these three lives is inevitable. Their collective unhappiness offers a quiet critique on the broken promises of the American dream. The white picket fence was never an option for everyone. However, most importantly it makes for a very compelling watch, pearl clutchers be damned.
On Swift Horses is in cinemas from 5th September 2025.
