Daisy Edgar-Jones, Will Poulter, Diego Calva, and Sasha Calle round out the cast of one of the gayest movies of the fall festival season…
“Everybody’s got an angle. You just gotta play the cards as they come.”
Gambling and the gay community don’t often mix with the fashion of 1950s Americana. Mid-century outlooks on same-sex relationships are usually regarded with a healthy dose of negative attitudes from those outside of the community. These relationships were kept secret for everyone’s safety and because the cultural norms of the day hadn’t caught up with one’s true feelings and identity.
This is a theme of the new film On Swift Horses, which had its world premiere last week at the Toronto International Film Festival. Directed by Daniel Minahan (Fellow Travelers), the movie stars Jacob Elordi as Korean war veteran Julius who harbors a secret side to him that unleashes in spectacular displays of sexual affection: Julius is queer.
He visits his brother Lee (Will Poulter) and Lee’s wife Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones) at their home in Kansas, intending for all three family members to move to California together. However, Julius has other plans, including a significant stint in Las Vegas as his family gets settled in San Diego. In Las Vegas, the noted card shark meets and collaborates with a fellow gambler, Henry (Diego Calva), a Mexican man with whom Julius has a love affair in addition to conning casinos out of hard-earned cash.
But Muriel has a secret side to her as well. When Lee is off at work, and Muriel has downtime after her shifts as a server in a local beach-side diner, she takes to the horse track and gambles on races she overhears her customers talking about on a daily basis. Through her dealings at the track and at home, Muriel discovers her queer side and explores this tantalizing feeling by having numerous affairs of the heart and body with female neighbors and new friends.
Based on the novel of the same name by Shannon Pufahl, On Swift Horses reflects on an era in the United States where arrests could be made at local gay bars just because some folks were looking for companionship. It’s a time when being gay or exploring the spectrum of queerness could land a person in jail or worse, and perspectives can get clouded based on the type of person you choose to trust. The film’s premise hinges on the fact that many of the characters within the framework are inherently queer, though it doesn’t say much more about why they all come to this realization at the very same time.
Jacob Elordi’s Julius has an epic journey in On Swift Horses, the complete opposite of his spoiled rich 20-something character in last year’s much-talked-about Saltburn. Equally queer-baiting as his previous film, the Australian actor’s turn here will satisfy some audiences eager to watch him make passionate love to Diego Calva’s character in some steamy scenes.
But sex scenes aside, On Swift Horses doesn’t offer a clear vision of what life was like for many queer people living in conservative areas of the United States in the 1950s. It angles towards introducing the backgrounds for some cliches, like the lesbian neighbor (Sasha Calle) who seduces Muriel with loyalty and secrecy. The film attempts to connect Muriel and Julius’s struggles with a long-distance relationship between the in-laws, though their queer connection isn’t much more than swapping stories of unrequited love and devotion to their current sexcapades.
Through it all, Will Poulter’s Lee is out of the mix and seemingly unaware of what his brother and wife are up to in their personal lives. Lee is meant to be a stranger to this world, though he comprehends much more than the main characters believe he’s capable of. Lee’s crusades through life are put on the back burner for an overtly queer storyline, giving the character little to do at a time when his perspective might be needed more than some others.
On Swift Horses is a gay-baiting film masked with talented actors and queer filmmakers at the helm. It’s an odd choice to cast an almost entirely international cast, mostly straight, to play believable American queer characters. The plot doesn’t drive these characters’ relationships forward in a meaningful or thought-provoking way, giving rise to a less satisfying and unrealistic ending.
RELATED:
– On Swift Horses Cast And Crew Remark On Secret Queer Lives In 1950s America
– 10 Queer Films From TIFF 2024 That You Need To Add To Your Must-Watch List
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