Horse Girl Dvd

Horse Girl is a 2020 American psychological drama film directed and produced by Jeff Baena, from a screenplay by Baena and Alison Brie. It stars Alison Brie, Debby Ryan, John Reynolds, Molly Shannon, John Ortiz, and Paul Reiser.

The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2020. It was released on February 7, 2020, by Netflix.

Plot

Sarah is a shy, introverted young woman who lives a quiet life and works at a crafts store. In her spare time, she visits the grave of her mother, who died by suicide the year before, and frequents the horse stable where her former horse, Willow, is boarded, and where she rode in her childhood; Sarah’s recurrent visits visibly annoy the owners. On Sarah’s birthday, she makes a feeble attempt to ask the woman who teaches her Zumba class to go out with her but fails to make her point. When her roommate, Nikki, finds Sarah home alone on her birthday, she invites Darren, her boyfriend Brian’s roommate, over for a double date. The four smoke marijuana and have drinks, and Sarah listens eagerly as Darren reveals details about himself and his past relationship. After he leaves, Sarah has a bizarre dream in which she is lying in a white room with a man and woman.

The following morning, Nikki awakens to find Sarah sleeping on the living room floor, and large scratch marks running across the wall. Darren returns to the apartment to retrieve his car, and asks Sarah on a date. At work, Sarah suffers a bloody nose and recognizes a man walking outside who resembles the one from her dream. Later, Sarah spends an afternoon with her childhood friend Heather, who suffered a traumatic brain injury in a riding accident that results in her having recurrent seizures and short term memory loss.

A series of bizarre incidents soon befall Sarah: She hears people talking in her apartment when Nikki is not home, and later one morning finds her car has been stolen from her apartment’s garage. Gary, Sarah’s wealthy stepfather, notifies her the car has appeared at a tow yard, as the registration is still in his name. He brings Sarah to retrieve it, and the tow driver informs them the car was abandoned near a water facility in the middle of the road. Later, Sarah apparently sleepwalks out of her apartment and awakens standing on a sidewalk, and has unexplained time loss. Her boss, Joan, suggests that Sarah visit a doctor given Sarah’s familial history of mental health problems.

Sarah becomes convinced she is experiencing alien abductions and might be a clone, the latter triggered by a subplot in Purgatory, a fantasy television series Sarah watches regularly. Due to her striking resemblance to her deceased grandmother, Sarah worries she may be a clone of her. Meanwhile, she tracks the man from her dream, Ron, to a plumbing store that he owns. While on a date with Darren, Sarah manically confides her belief that she is a clone, and has him drive her to her mother’s grave to dig her up and retrieve her DNA. When Darren becomes disturbed, Sarah accuses him of plotting against her, and threatens him with scissors, forcing him to leave her there.

After Sarah strips nude at work with no memory of doing so, she is admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Sarah is discharged after 72 hours in the hospital and dresses in her grandmother’s dress, covertly stealing Willow from the stable and walks with her into the woods. Sarah stops in a clearing and lies on the ground. Moments later, a spaceship appears; she levitates toward the sky and disappears.

Cast

Alison Brie as Sarah
Victoria Claire as Young Sarah
Debby Ryan as Nikki, Sarah’s roommate
John Reynolds as Darren, Sarah’s love-interest
Molly Shannon as Joan, Sarah’s coworker
John Ortiz as Ron, an owner of a plumbing company
Jay Duplass as Ethan, a social worker
Robin Tunney as Agatha Kaine, a character in Purgatory
Paul Reiser as Gary, Sarah’s stepdad
Matthew Gray Gubler as Darren Colt, a character in Purgatory
Meredith Hagner as Heather, Sarah’s disabled friend
Zoe Saltz as Young Heather
Jake Picking as Brian, Nikki’s boyfriend
Dylan Gelula as Jane Doe
Toby Huss as Joe, a horse trainer
Angela Trimbur as Julie
David Paymer as Doctor
Aaron Stanford as Hades
Dendrie Taylor as Heather’s mother
Lauren Weedman as Cheryl
Luis Fernandez-Gil as Tow Worker
Sharaé Nikai as Nurse