Knowing how badly things turned out last time I highlighted a film about horse racing, scepticism feels like the right mood to enter this particular film with. Or I could expect basic sentimentality, given the median age of the cast here and the general pleasantness of the tone I got from the trailer (and, truth be told, the poster). But instead, I’m actually going into this with a certain amount of anticipation, and of course, it’s because I recognise a few of the names attached to this feature. We’ve got Toni Collette in a starring role, which is a start, but there’s also the director: Euros Lyn.
Now, depending on my reader’s familiarity with sci-fi television, that name might ring a bell, given his work on Russell T. Davies-era Doctor Who, Torchwood: Children Of Earth (low-key one of the greatest TV miniseries of the 21st century, and possibly even further back), and the Black Mirror episode Fifteen Million Merits, the one with the exercise bikes and a version of Pop Idol that’s somehow even more depressing than the real thing. Most of his work up to this point has been in TV production, with this apparently being his first theatrical release. Well, if this is his first sprint on the big screen, it’s good knowing all that experience and skill can translate this effectively.
