6/12 ForReel Score | 2.5/5 Stars

Horsegirls is a unique film about a young woman's journey to find her place in the world. It hits several beats that you will see coming along the way, but it gets there with some important distinctions and directions that you perhaps won't.

Margarita (Lillian Carrier) is 22 and autistic. She lives with her mother, Sandy (Gretchen Mol) and is averse to working because she doesn't want to wear "hard pants" (who does, though?), and she loves horses. She can't have her own, so she visits a local stable so often that she has been effectively banned. She is, in a word, a little childish. Not selfish or thoughtless, but exaggerated in her mannerisms and blunt with her opinions, and unironic in her way of speaking. This sounds like it might be a caricature, but it comes right up to the edge without tipping over. Margarita is a well-developed person in ways that we don't often see in films like this, largely due to Lillian Carrier herself being on the spectrum.

This is the most important and refreshing aspect of Horsegirls, where most of the time, autistic characters are created by people not on the spectrum, and end up being over the top. Margarita, on the other hand, is created with care and real-world experience, which informs the whole story.

We quickly learn that Margarita is capable and intelligent, holds a university degree, and loves karaoke. When Sandy's cancer returns for the third time and she starts pushing Magartia to exist in the world a little more, get a job, and become self-sustaining, the ensuing arguments and discussions feel like two real people having it out.

The film's story is a little cliché in that Margarita ends up finding her community among a group of performers in an eccentric sport: Hobby Horsing, a sort of dance that involves pretending to be equestrians on children's stick horses. Also, the other performers are literally children, about 10 years her junior, but community is community, and she ends up being mentored by a friendly coach who has his own trauma to heal. When the big performance happens... well, let's not spoil it.

While Carrier is good as Margarita, it's Gretchen Mol who steals the show. Her Sandy is fierce, caring, anxious about the future, nurturing, and heartbreaking in all the best ways. If there is a moment that will make you cry in this film, it belongs to her.

Horsegirls' basic plot and structure may not be unique, but the characters that tell it are. It is perhaps too cliché to be great, but the characters will stick with you, and their depictions will hopefully bring some new perspective.

Tribeca 2025 | Movie Review: Strong Performances Keeps "Horsegirls" On Track