+

poster of Horse Girl
Rating: 5.642/10 by 545 users

Horse Girl (2020)

A socially awkward woman with a fondness for arts and crafts, horses, and supernatural crime shows finds her increasingly lucid dreams trickling into her waking life.

Directing:
  • Jeff Baena
  • Shahrzad Davani
  • John T. Melick
  • Andrea Manners
  • Kyle Shea
  • Frankie Pagnotta
  • Andrea Manners
Writing:
  • Jeff Baena
  • Alison Brie
Stars:
Release Date: Mon, Jan 27, 2020

Rating: 5.642/10 by 545 users

Alternative Title:
La chica que amaba a los caballos - AR

Country:
United States of America
Language:
English
Runtime: 01 hour 44 minutes
Budget: $0
Revenue: $0

Plot Keyword: roommate, supernatural, conspiracy theory, dating, co-workers relationship, mental illness, sleepwalking, social anxiety, loss of mother

Louisa Moore - Screen Zealots

I left the screening of “Horse Girl” with a deep dissatisfaction, a film that is an odd misstep from director Jeff Baena (“Life After Beth,” “Joshy”). The first half of the film is awkwardly charming, but then it becomes something completely different in the worst possible way. The goodwill earned from the oddball sensibility of the story is derailed when things go in a completely “WTF?!” direction. This is a dark movie that gets weird for no good reason, and it feels like the project becomes a victim of writers (Baena and Alison Brie) who can’t figure out the ending to their story so they take the weird route. It’s lazy, sloppy, and super disappointing. The goofy and sweet Sarah (Brie) has a quiet and fairly simple life. She spends her days working at a crafts store, her afternoons visiting an equestrian center, and her evenings in from of the t.v. watching her favorite supernatural crime show. When her coworker Joan (Molly Shannon) gives her a DNA testing kit for her birthday, it sparks a curiosity about her family history that leads to a pattern of sleepwalking episodes and disturbing dreams. These visions begin to seep into her daily reality, making the fine line Sarah walks between what’s real and what’s fake even more blurred. Is she a clone? Is it the work of extraterrestrials? Or is her family history of paranoid schizophrenia finally starting to affect her? The mystery aspects of the story are interesting, and Baena treats his characters with tenderness and respect. The film is at its best when it presents as a quirky character study and its worst when it becomes too abstract. It isn’t the serious and depressing plot points that ruin the film, but it’s the outlandish finale that honestly makes no sense whatsoever. The ending feels like a slap in the face to those dealing with mental illness as much as it does to the audience.


My Favorite

Welcome back!

Support Us

Like Movienade?

Please buy us a coffee

scan qr code