To experience and appreciate Daniel Minahan’s On Swift Horses, an elegant adaptation of Shannon Pufahl’s novel of the same name, requires your going back in the closet, so to speak. This swank period piece is a far cry from the open representation of queer life we’ve seen in recent times, but it’s that regression that gives Bryce Kass’ script its substance and, hopefully, your sympathy.
Admittedly, this story is nothing new; dual identities come to exist in, not to mention succumb to, their stifling environments. What makes On Swift Horses feel somewhat different, though, is its occasional refrain from the pitfalls of queer period dramas. In small yet significant ways, Minahan defies what’s expected of this genre.
Following the Korean War, Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and husband Lee (Will Poulter) can finally begin a life together, and that scares the former deep down to her core. Of course, that fear of hers is quiet and simmering, and very few know about it. Of those privy, Lee’s equally ambiguous brother Julius (Jacob Elordi) is the most significant. Yet despite the film’s setup of a complicated entanglement of siblings and the woman caught in the middle, On Swift Horses spends a good chunk of its runtime with the three main players roaming about on their own. Nevertheless, the film doesn’t abandon this obvious sexual tension, even when there’s a bit of distance between everyone.
In that time apart, Julius’ self-discovery brings us to Diego Calva’s Henry, another lonely and yearning drifter in life. And from their fateful and passionate meeting springs the film’s most realized subplot, although like most strands of story here, it doesn’t go quite the way you anticipate or desire. Even still, the middle section of Julius and Henry’s affair is not defined by the standard sort of tragedy that haunts queer cinema’s past. Heaven knows Minahan is handed all the right ingredients to pull off such a gut-punch.
Muriel’s personal hurdles are also somber, although you can see the consequences of her choices from a mile away. It’s too familiar, much to the chagrin of anyone hoping for something fresher. Generally speaking, the script falls prey to stale beats that, if not for the cast, would have less effect.
In spite of itself, this film still stands to leave a mark and even gives us with more to remember it by, now that Minahan has taken the most uncertain and least crowd-pleasing way out. Combine that with lovely style and impressive performances — Elordi is at his most vulnerable yet, Edgar-Jones is beautifully understated in her role, and Calvo is magnetic — and On Swift Horses is a better bet than first predicted, at least as far as downbeat queerness goes these days.
It would be easy — but also wrong — to say nothing of note happens in On Swift Horses. That sense of nebulousness at the end won’t be met with wide approval or great acclaim, but it’s hard to imagine this story ending any other way.
On Swift Horses screened at SXSW 2025, and will play in theaters nationwide starting on April 25.
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