FilmSnobReviews

Title: Horse Girl
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Jeff Baena
Starring: Alison Brie, John Reynolds, Molly Shannon
Runtime: 1 hr 44 mins

What It Is: Sarah (Brie) loves her job at an arts and crafts store, gets along with her fellow coworkers, has a roommate who cares for her, and visits her beloved pet horse on the daily. She might even have a new boyfriend–but when her sleepwalking and night visions start getting out of hand, Sarah strikes out to find out why before its consequences are irreversible.

What We Think: So I didn’t include the trailer on purpose. Don’t watch it, it’ll just confuse you more. My advice is, just watch it and go along for the strange, spiraling ride that this lovely, bewildering psychological drama will take you through. It’s a bit of a fun and disheartening game of brainfuck hopstotch (mind-bending, to put it mildly). The strange narrative nonetheless lends itself for its beloved cast to stretch their acting wings. Shannon is a comforting and much needed presence, John Reynolds is charming as always (a sort of the manifestation of the audience watching this movie), and Alison Brie has me blown away in delivering on a character with a refreshing sense of humanity while also effectively troubling. Just, oh my God–this movie could have been something completely different if not much less respectable had it not been carried out exactly as it was. I loved watching this and came out of the theater equal parts tripped-out and enlightened. This is incredible direction.

Our Grade: A-, Utterly unique, intelligently written, tender, funny, bizarre, and hypnotic, Horse Girl will either excite, frustrate, or both. Either way, I think it’s an amazing movie to behold. Congrats, Netflix–you picked a winner in my book. I’m ready to watch this again and baffle the hell out of all my friends.