Horse Girl is an over-ambitious piece that at times appears to be trying so much to be deep and artistic that it plunges flat on the floor. Starring Alison Brie, this metaphysical melodrama delves into the decline of a woman’s mental grasp on reality. While the idea of it is compelling and holds some potential the abstract disorientating task would have needed the skill of David Lynch for it to be performed correctly. With some obvious inspirations taken from the disturbingly pleasurable text that is Equus and a style that is non-conforming I really do appreciate that Horse Girl tries to offer something different from the status quo. Unfortunately, the lack of skill in this over-ambitious project has led to a mimetic boring take that contains far too much white space.

First of all, I thought the casting of Alison Brie was quite puzzling. She has had a fantastic career playing beloved characters from hit shows; Diane Nguyen from BoJack Horseman or Annie Edison from Community. Horse Girl is very new territory that is not quite suited to her. Personally, I love this actress. Her voice acting as Diane from BoJack Horseman, in particular, has even made me able to cry at times, especially the episode she travels to Vietnam and reconciles her Asian-American identity. However, in the case of Horse Girl, there was not much to vouch for. She plays a very grey, flat character who lacks depth.

In this supposedly mind-boggling film her descent into madness was acted out impressively but the surrounding components; narrative and sound editing do her no justice. Her worthwhile acting is made to appear nonsensical and misplaced. The sound editing was lacking severely in quality with an audio-texture that fails to immerse in us in the psychological atmosphere. In fact, it did the opposite and the very misplaced sounding cues and themes resembling retro video games distanced me further from the film. Some of the shots were lazy, and the length of takes were somewhat meaningless lingering on certain images for too long. Perhaps there is a metaphorical novelty to these shots, yet they still held virtually no accessibility in terms of meaning. The script was poorly written. Among the many correctable lines there is one I am still perturbed by the lack of nuance; ‘It’s nice to be out of my house and stuff. And hanging out. And talking to a woman again.’ Alison’s makeup is also overdone, making her look ghoulish to the extent that it is ridiculous rather than eerie, uncanny or absurd. Again, there was far too much white space in this movie. I thought this was an ironic comedy until it kept on going far too long, drowning my smile and laughter as the humorous style became cringy.

In this over-ambitious take that didn’t really need nor use the theme of horses well, the final product comes across as amateur. It is not simply a bad film, however. I saw traces of potential in the twists that caught my eye; solid acting, unique approach, and an ending that would have been really nice if only the execution preceding it was of a decent standard. It is paradoxical to say, but the movie contained far too much white space, and yet it did not go hard enough. What makes Lynch’s films stand out by contrast is the excess of white space that is somehow meaningful and abstract and filled to the brim with accumulating tension and emotion.

What some people say of the Lynch films as being nonsensical and foolish is what I see in Horse Girl. While they aren’t for everybody, it is hard to recognise an audience for Horse Girl. It does, however, provide a very important function in the world of art which is to demonstrate that beauty and artistry can be found in a variety of diverse topics and subjects. Unfortunately, Horse Girl itself is neither beautiful nor artistic. For those wanting to watch something that is abstract, weird, and beautiful I would recommend Equus a classic text which the movie seems to gather lots of inspiration from, and obviously the Lynch films or to less obvious extent Black Mirror. As for the works of Lynch, What Did Jack Do has recently arrived on Netflix, but do not forget Eraserhead, Mulholland Drive and Blue Velvet.

Verdict

Unfortunately, Horse Girl has bitten off too much metaphysical hay than it can chew. The sound editing, script quality and state of the shots weren’t particularly impressive. The casting was puzzling, but Alison Brie’s talent still prevails in her other works, if not done justice in this.

3/10

Horse Girl is currently streaming on Netflix.

Images courtesy of Netflix. All rights reserved.