Seductive visuals Winnipeg Free Press [Video]

Beautiful but strangely static, On Swift Horses is a queer melodrama that looks back to Eisenhower-era America, following the closeted lives of several intersecting characters.

Awash in atmosphere and packed with minty mid-century detail, this is a self-consciously stylish film. Unfortunately, by emphasizing gorgeous surface over dramatic substance, director Daniel Minahan risks turning a tragedy of silence, isolation and repressed desire into an oddly airless period piece.

Adapted by Bryce Kass (Lizzie) from the 2019 novel by Shannon Pufahl, the story begins in rural Kansas, where Muriel (Twisters’ Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Lee (Will Poulter from Death of a Unicorn) are welcoming home Lee’s wayward brother Julius (Priscilla’s Jacob Elordi).

Muriel has just given a somewhat subdued acceptance to Lee’s latest marriage proposal, but she’s obviously drawn to Julius. Even after Julius lights out for Las Vegas and the newlywed couple pack up for California, Muriel and Julius continue to share an indefinable bond.

This might have something …