Horse Girl (7.5/10)

Sarah, a socially isolated arts and crafts store employee, finds herself more content in the company of horses and supernatural crime shows than people. But when a series of strangely surreal dreams upend the simplicity of her waking life, Sarah struggles to distinguish her visions from reality.

The story written and performed by Allison Brie, is in fact inspired tremendously by her own family’s psychological history. More specifically, her mother’s (whom was clinically depressed) and her grandmother’s (whom was a paranoid schizophrenic).

The correlation between Brie’s own history and Sarah’s (the main protagonist) own downfall into the depth of confusion and psychological thrills, was something really interesting to witness.

The way director Baena and writer Brie portrayed mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, paranoia, psychosis… as well as many different topics such as reality, obscurity, death, time… in a really scale like manner is something admirable because this light and innocent movie (or what I believed it to be) abruptly transformed into a psychological mayhem that will leave you questioning everything.

I guess what I am trying to say is that the intensity of this story and what makes it so convincing are derived from its subliminal metaphors and hidden messages.

The story’s third act/climax was simply poetic. It is something out of this world, both figuratively and metaphorically.

Sarah, Horse Girl protagonist and leading lady’s gradual development from an average looking young lady into a psychotic fanatic was really well studied and implemented. This journey I witnessed felt so real and sincere that I would gladly go through it another time.

Allison Brie’s incarnation into Sarah was phenomenal. The amount of emotions and depth she has put into her performance was spectacular. I was extremely satisfied.

Moreover, the score that went along with the story and the cinematography created an unsettling vibe that will captivate all spectators.

My only criticism is that the title is a little bit misleading. It holds a lot of meanings but at first it can be tricky.

Horse Girl, a movie to be admired! Totally recommend it.

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