Martin McDonagh could very well be the Billy Wilder of our generation, generation X of course. The comedy is there but that’s not the main ingredient, and although he could very be a terrific director, it is the writing where he excels. He also demands the setting be the story as well. “Wild Horse Nine” is almost entirely on Easter Island. The setting forces the character to be authentic, remove distraction to be real- to be honest with themselves, even if it is the first time. McDonagh knows it’s not what you write but what you don’t. Wilder was a master at that and now we can say so is McDonagh. The beats, the timing, the landing of dialogue are all smooth and earned, but what the characters don’t say to each carries a heavier weight. This is great writing.  With his fifth full-feature he has demonstrated that character must remain compelling, each and everyone of them even though at times they are repugnant. 

“Wild Horse Nine” is the best original screenplay so far this year with an ending that is deserved by the audience and the characters. It’s crisp storytelling without being over-bearing or leaning on the main plot  or just one character- the strength is the ensemble.  The clues are all there, out in the open for the audience to connect them. Sometimes the clues are on the nose. Others take time to sink in. Absorb all that is in front of the camera. Sometimes the result emits a chuckle, or a laugh, other times it could be a tear.  

“Wild Horse Nine” is about sundowning and most importantly control. Each character is battling for it-even battling control over their life, or their convictions. That’s where the clashes occur and that is where McDonagh soars. The film is about the last remnants of a life. That life is veteran CIA operative Chris Carlisle-played so marvelously by John Malkovich that it will surely award him an Oscar nomination.  Chris is dying, HIs memories are scattered. He wasn’t a good person, but he was good at his job. He has terminal cancer and is at Easter Island to die. He is accompanied by the only person he ever called a friend. His partner Lee Chesterfield-who is also played marvelously by someone, which is Sam Rockwell.  Comparisons will arise from McDonagh’s previous works such as “In Bruges” and “Banshees of Inisherin” because both feature a budding friendship being broken. There are strong similarities, so strong that even to claim that film is a triptych to the others would not be wrong. There are overlapping tropes and themes.  Here McDonagh is making us laugh at the audacity of control. Control over people, over land, over politics, over life. The spillage of control leads to undoubtedly regret. The result from perpetual seeking of control. 

The darkness of the comedy is that all these characters don’t deserve our empathy but do get it- the joke is on us. McDonagh tosses the most vile human beings at us only to show that they are human as well and let humanity creep in-brilliant. 

The only weakness to it is the under development of the female characters. We should all demand more screen time for Parker Posey. What little time she has is rich, and the Tom Waits drop in is terrific as well. Steve Buscemi should get a nod for a supporting role, a role that he totally gets lost in. 

“Wild Horse Nine” will be placed in many critics’ top ten at the end of the year. It’s technically sound filmmaking, but more importantly brilliant filmmaking. McDonagh gets the right performances out of everyone. It’s a film that many people will have different ideas what the film is about- but essentially that doesn’t because what it is most true, what McDonagh wants us to know is that these characters in the film would be laughing  harder than the audience if they knew people spent time watching them and their story 9/10