It is hard to watch On Swift Horses without cynically regarding it as Jacob Elordi’s inevitable gay-for-pay moment. For every up-and-coming male actor under 30, showing your versatility and vulnerability in a queer role has become an overly familiar rite of passage. Fortunately, Elordi acquits himself well here – very well, in fact; this is easily one of his best performances so far. But for On Swift Horses, a historical drama afflicted with the kind of discomfiting fluidity and modern sheen that robs it of any grit or identity, Elordi’s committed turn as a queer gambler might be its most memorable part.
Based on Shannon Pufahl’s 2019 novel, On Swift Horses is the kind of literary translation that doesn’t actually adapt. It literally transposes Pufahl’s book to the big screen without taking advantage of its quieter moments and actively adding to the source material. It’s about Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones, adding yet another darn-tootin all-American woman to her repertoire), an introspective ’50s housewife who radically reconsiders her life after encountering her rakish brother-in-law Julius (Jacob Elordi). Meanwhile, in Vegas, Julius descends into a self-destructive cycle of addiction as he works the city’s casino scene, falling in love with a fellow gambler (Diego Calva). The decisions Julius and Muriel make feel mostly in service to the plot – which relies on hoary metaphors around Vegas gambling and horse betting – not the characters, and you meet its grand emotional payoff with a shrug. Fundamentally, Bryce Kass’ script isn’t interested in Muriel and Julius – or any of the characters – as real people and they’re all painted in such refined, distant strokes that they never feel worth investing in.
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On Swift Horses clearly has aspirations to be a kind of ’50s melodrama throwback – often evoking the kind of portentous, theatrical language of an Elia Kazan or John Huston film – but it lacks the patience of its inspirations. It’s too hasty, too shiny, too lacking in roughness to make much of an impact. Even the hyped sex scenes between Elordi and Calva feel perfunctory and lacking in genuine feeling. Every time On Swift Horses gets close to something textured and interesting it hastens into the next scene. It’s a film about repression and emergent desire that fails to give way into something unbridled and passionate.
The charismatic performances by Elordi and Edgar-Jones ensure that On Swift Horses is never less than watchable. They are both doing terrific work here, taking generous bites into material that does not match their commitment. Julius and Muriel’s connection is the bedrock the film is built upon and yet we never quite get a handle on their obsessive relationship. The pair remain separate for the majority of the film so their initial meeting needs to be the spark that ignites On Swift Horses – but again, you never feel that necessary intensity. None of it is bad by any stretch, it’s just unremarkable.
