Review of Dream Horse (2021) by Markhreviews — 30 May 2021

In the early 2000s, Jan Vokes decided to breed and raise a racehorse, just to prove to herself that “things can change.” Her village of Cefn Fforest was in decline as the economy moved away from mining, the town’s primary industry. Her goal represented a worthy ambition and a worthy sentiment, just like this film.

“Dream Horse” is based on the true story of the steeplechase racer Dream Alliance. It’s inspired by the documentary “Dark Horse” (a much punchier title) that won a World Audience Award at the 2015 Sundance Festival. At Jan’s prodding, the residents of her Welsh village decide to pool their resources (“just a tenner a week”) to fund the breeding and development of their racehorse. They have no experience. They make up for this deficit with baseless, boundless, endearing enthusiasm. (There’s something very charming about seeing this lot literally rubbing elbows with the social elite of the UK in the owner’s box.).

For a story about horseracing, there are sections of the film that are very slow-moving, although the irony appears unintended. As a sports story, this film ticks all the boxes. Initial promising success, check. A major setback creating an insurmountable obstacle to be overcome, check. You get the idea. By comparison, working on a paint-by-numbers picture is thrillingly unpredictable.

“Dream Horse” becomes much more interesting when it gallops into the eccentric lives of the townspeople. Jan Vokes is played by Toni Collette, who burst onto the scene in 1994’s “Muriel’s Wedding.” In the opening scene of “Muriel,” a bridal bouquet descends to the soundtrack of an incoming missile, excellent foreshadowing for Collette’s career. She’s been impactful ever since. It’s Collette who saves this film from sinking into an excessive sweetness that could threaten the theater’s concession stand sales. Unfortunately, though the other townspeople offer a wide range of potentially rich backstories, their story threads are never pursued. Damain Lewis (Howard Davis, a local accountant who actually knows something about horses) is given almost nothing interesting to do. But after watching him in forceful roles in “Homeland” and “Billions,” it’s fascinating to see Lewis inhabit a role totally devoid of menace.

The problem with this film is that it can’t decide what it really is. Because it never figures out whether it is a sports story or a character study, it gives a variety of interesting topics – the Welsh economy, the virtue of dreaming, whether people are too self-limiting, the concept of actual character development – only a glancing blow.

Dream Alliance earned a respectable 138,646 Great British pounds. At the end of the racehorse’s career, after paying for his upkeep, medical bills and other expenses, each member of the syndicate walked away with 1430 GBP (a little over $2000). After investing their time in this film, members of the audience may find their sense of enrichment was similarly modest.