On Swift Horses

As a director, Minahan knows his way around a track, but on the evidence of this film, he’s not yet ready to run wild.

It doesn’t always work, but you won’t mind that much, because it’s so beautiful to look at.

Despite a brilliant performance by Daisy Edgar-Jones, On Swift Horses gets lost in a meandering plot and clunky symbols

Nobody in this movie would be out of place in a glamorous old-Hollywood drama, which is kind of what “On Swift Horses” is trying to be — and, most of the time, coming pretty close.

Minahan’s engrossing, beautiful to behold drama has been somewhat dismissed for its old-school storytelling style. But that is sort of the entire point here as it plays and messes with those tropes by giving them a queer sensibility all of its own.

This feels like two movies, and the filmmakers couldn’t decide which story should be the focus.

This dense three hander is operatic and works on the same principal, that nothing in life is certain, especially where the heart is concerned.

...an exceedingly (and mostly excessively) deliberate endeavor...

The film, which is an adaptation of Shannon Pufhal’s book of the same name, initially presents itself as a scandalous love triangle only to veer off track into underdeveloped territory as the story progresses.


“On Swift Horses” is a beautifully shot and atmospheric production from director Daniel Minahan that is in some ways reminiscent of Old Hollywood, but its disjointed storylines never quite gel into a satisfying whole.