Dark Horse

Film4“Probably Solondz's lightest film to date...” Solondz's sweetest film is still terrifically bitter. The maudlin sensibilities do stifle the belly laughs and it isn't always consistently engaging but there's a wincing poetry at work nonetheless...

Empire“Gelber gets a breakout showcase role...” Abe is so credibly wounded by imaginary sleights and finds so little joy in irresponsibility, he is ultimately a heartbreaking character; a pointed rebuke to the celebration of the worst aspects of male immaturity in recent pop culture....

Time Out“The characters are to be viewed from behind the sofa...” Solondz loses sight of his story in the final act when he flits between this grim, if hilarious, reality and an extended fantasy sequence...

Total Film “Blackly sardonic view of the world with a sprinkle of compassion...” Though more forgiving than previous Solondz films, Dark Horse is too slight to herald a wholesale change of direction. Yet it’s still worth catching, if only for Walken’s terrible toupee...

The Independent“Solondz torments his characters until he forgives them instead...” Dark Horse hasn't the ensemble brilliance and emotional daring of Happiness but it does at least uphold the film-maker's status as a one-off...

Little White Lies“The opaque finale leaves much to ponder...” For Dark Horse, Solondz has dropped the shock misanthropy that increasingly marked his work for what almost begins as a comedy of manners but becomes more hallucinatory...

Guardian“Solondz gives us quieter chamber music in a minor key...” Sexual obsession, sibling rivalry, chilling despair … it can only be a film from Todd Solondz. Interestingly, Dark Horse is a little more muted, a little less alienated, a little more sympathetic...