Wild Horse Nine

Friday afternoon, Jack, Sharon and I saw Wild Horse Nine at the CinemaWest Country Club theater. This is part of our annual journey to see all of the films that might be nominated for any Oscar. Goldderby currently has the film with the third highest Best Picture odds, while the Big Picture Podcast has Wild Horse Nine ranked fourth.

Wild Horse Nine is a black comedy political thriller film written and directed by Martin McDonagh. It stars John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Mariana di Girolamo, Ailín Salas, Tom Waits, and Parker Posey.

The film follows CIA Officers Chris Carlisle (Malkovich) and Lee Chesterfield (Rockwell) in 1973 as they travel to Easter Island for an assignment and wrestle with their dark pasts. The Kennedy assassination and the foreshadowing of the military coup that overthrew the democratically elected leftist government of Chilean President Salvador Allende play large roles in the plot.

As we walked out of the theater, Sharon said "well, that was depressing, but the acting was good." I wouldn't be surprised if both Malkovich and Rockwell get acting Oscars nods. I am lukewarm about recommending the film.

I didn't realize until we were walking out of the movie that we had seen several other movies by the director, including: In Bruges; Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; and The Banshees of Inisherin. Banshees is probably my least favorite movie of the last ten years.