Horsegirls is the debut film from Lauren Meyering starring Lillian Carrier as Margarita, a twenty-two year old grown and independent (mostly) autistic woman. She lives with her mother Sandy, played by Gretchen Moll and dreams of riding horses. Short of this, she comes to the idea that she could join a hobby horse competition. This happens at the same time she gets a job, through sheer pluck and confidence, at a Halloween costume store. Meanwhile, her mother, as it turns out, is dying from cancer. If this seems like a lot to process, it is, and it sometimes takes the story to places where it begins to creak under the weight of its ambitions. Yet it never breaks, and that is down largely to the performances and a directorial debut that knows when to let the emotions carry the film.
Courtesy Sumerian Pictures
Many films do not earn the sentiment, but this one does. Many films that are about sports or special needs people, miss what makes those things unique, but this film captures that, especially the later. It is also a film that understands how people behave and why. This is not a realistic or naturalistic film, but there is emotional and social truth.
At its core, this is a story about understanding and love. It is about acceptance and growth, as well as mortality and finding your place in the world. It is not a film where you will walk away remembering the editing, or revisiting it to see some heated action sequences. It is a film where you may be left with emotional or visual impressions that linger in your heart and mind long after they are done playing.
There are scenes that do not hold your hand because the film trusts you to get what it is saying yet these are also the films where the sentiment may hit the hardest. These sequences feel earned, because they are based in character and involve people the film has, to that point, given us a reason to follow and be interested in seeing happens. Two of the most quietly devastating sequences of the year are in this film, and both rely almost entirely on Carrier as Margarita making you understand what her character is experiencing in that instant.
It is no lie to say the film is extremely sentimental and occasionally even sappy, but perhaps a kinder and more specific diagnosis is that there is genuine sweetness here. Not in the Disney or old school sitcom, give you a medical condition sense of the term. This is not Barney and Friends, but rather the type of hope and love we used to see in family films mixed with a very modern understanding of interpersonal relationships and differently abled people. It is not a masterpiece, but it has moments where it is masterful. As a debut feature, it is one of the better efforts from the last few years.
Courtesy Sumerian Pictures
Yet the thing you will likely remember the most are the performances, by Moll and Carrier and certain scenes. There is one, late in the film, with a shot so perfectly framed as to defy belief, and this is followed up with an extended sequence of emotional finales that could overwhelm a viewer but which are in perfect keeping with the character as established. You must remember, as a viewer, this film is done in a way that you get to understand the world from two points of view, but mainly from Margarita, and her interactions with the world diverge from that of most other people. If it feels unusual, that is as it should be, and the film does an excellent job conveying that. Check this one out.
Horsegirls is now playing in theaters.
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