Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: WILD HORSE NINE [Fantastic Fest - Austin, Texas]
While the trailers paint an inherent buddy movie from hell with two great actors, the rumination of the new film from writer/dirextoe Martin McDonough: "Wild Horse Nine" is about the illusion of mortality and truth. The story starts off in Chile where Chris (John Malkovich) and Lee (Sam Rockwell) who are doing a lazy work-op for the CIA. Chris is bored and at the end of his rope and seems to become a nihilist of sorts not covering up some of the things he has done over the years. However he is very glib and non-chalant about it. Malkovich is still playing Malkovich but it works as if, like "Being John Malkovich" in a way, the aspects of meta versus the aspect of Impressionism combine with a concept of mortality. After "Good Luck Have Fun Don’t Die", Rockwell takes a more reactionary approach. He is good here but this is Malkovich’s movie. They end up on Easter Island which is a plan of sorts and their meander from the hotel to the heads is reflective of a bigger existential problem. There are larger stakes but this feels more caper-like than say "The Banshees Of Inishirin" which was a much more dynamic interpretation of communication and loneliness.
"Wild Horse Nine" isn’t bad by any means. The imagery and McDonough's story and dialogue-sense are top notch. This however, with the location (unlike Ireland), feels more like "The Descendents" with George Clooney. This is Malkovich at his most vulnerable and yet there is always a double meaning behind everything. A scene with him and a wild horse is very telling but even more so in him sitting on a window pane shooting morphine wistfully throwing out zingers before saying thank you to his friend for bringing him along. It is sad but also self-deprecating at the same time. But the empathy only goes so far. Steve Buscemi has a nice bit as their CIA boss where he gets to throw around some f-bomb zingers which we haven’t seen him so in a while. There is also a great phone call exchange but it is the person on the other end that really makes you feel the time with Malkovich. It is simple but it really adds a lot to what Malkovich's Chris is going through without saying alot. The eventual climax, like all of McDonough‘s movies, has a mythic edge but a unique perspective where you are still thinking about it long after the movie is finished. That is what makes for a memorable movie...ann "Wild Horse Nine" is. It is a goood buddy comedy/drama with an effective Malkovich performance with all the requisites. Whether or not, it has legs is the long shot...but one never knows. McDonough also has two small but really effective needle drops that indeed make the movie. 86%/B/B+
By Tim Wassberg
