Movie Review - Horse Girl

Director and co-writer Jeff Baena is possibly saying something about the legacy of trauma or the legacy of mental illness. He could be speaking to how trauma or mental illness is passed down from one generation to another, or how it's passed down through a family, sometimes along one, specific gender line. It can start with a woman, be given to her daughter and then her granddaughter. It could be like a cycle or loop that repeats inside of a family. One could say that it clones itself. Yet, the word "clone" conjures up science-fiction ideas. It could confuse anyone watching Baena's film into thinking that it is science-fiction. I'm not sure if that's Baena's goal because there is a question if this film is science-fiction. His protagonist is dealing with possible mental illness. The question of the film is if she's a victim of her own mind and genetics, or, if there is some, real, fantastical force at work. Most filmmakers like to be ambiguous and believe the fun of the film is maintaining the question from beginning to end.

Alison Brie (Glow and Community) stars as Sarah, a young woman who has an affinity for horses or one specific horse, but the people at the horse farm are increasingly wary of her and increasingly don't want her around. She works at a craft store where she mainly sells fabrics. Her co-worker likes her, but Sarah isn't fully able to connect. She has a female roommate, but Sarah isn't really able to connect with her much either. When Sarah tries to make new friends, she's not able to make the necessary steps. A lot of this social awkwardness or social anxiety stems from various traumatic incidents that has happened in her past, including the untimely death of her mother.

Sarah has started to obsess over a supernatural and science-fiction show called Purgatory. Instead of interacting with people, even on her birthday, she sits in her apartment and watches this TV show. She's formed a crush on the male lead of that show. She's even started buying into the conspiracy theories of the show, which include alien abduction and secret, government experiments. This seems to isolate her further though. She becomes increasingly paranoid after she starts having weird dreams and experiences missing time, as well as what she thinks are sleepwalking mishaps.

Debby Ryan (Insatiable and The Suite Life on Deck) co-stars as Nikki, the roommate of Sarah. She can see that Sarah is socially awkward, so she tries to help. Nikki is a fairly normal girl with a regular job and a boyfriend who seems less than sympathetic. Nikki is more sympathetic, but even she has her limits. She becomes more and more frustrated and worried about Sarah. Yet, she thinks it's a good idea to try to play matchmaker and setup Sarah with her boyfriend's best friend.

John Reynolds (Four Weddings and a Funeral and Stranger Things) also co-stars as Darren, the best friend of Nikki's boyfriend. He's a tall, cute but a bit of a dorky guy. At first, he takes a liking to Sarah. He's interested in supernatural and science-fiction things. Therefore, he's able to talk to Sarah and get her talking back. He's really nice and adorable, as he becomes a conduit into what Sarah truly thinks and feels.

Baena and Brie who is the co-writer here craft these weird and strange things as a nonsensical mystery. It keeps the audience on-guard trying to determine what's real and what isn't. It feels like for the most part, the weird and strange things are meant to read as part of Sarah's mental illness, but the final scene and indeed final shot throws that into question. If one has seen Safety Not Guaranteed (2012), this film feels very akin to that Colin Trevorrow introduction. Baena's point might simply be to equate mental illness to the feeling of being abducted by aliens or being the subject of some crazy science experiment, which I don't think is an equation that's hammered home as well as it could have been.

Rated R for nudity and intense sexuality.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 44 mins.

Available on Netflix.