Whenever I hear there’s a new Martin McDonagh movie or play coming out, I get as giddy as a little kid. You walk in thinking you have some idea of what you’re going to get, and then he takes you somewhere totally unexpected. He’s a master of dialogue, turning a simple conversation into a hilarious argument, threat or something heartbreaking. Sometimes, all three before the scene is over.
And that includes his latest, Wild Horse Nine.
Written and directed by McDonagh, the film is set in 1973, shortly before the Chilean coup. CIA agents Chris (John Malkovich) and Lee (Sam Rockwell) are sent to Easter Island by their boss, MJ (Steve Buscemi). It sounds like a good opportunity to get away for a bit. But when your career involves secrets, lies and doing horrible things, you tend not leave work at the office.
The two have been partners for years, and you can tell by the way they bicker like an old married couple. They know exactly how to get under each other’s skin, which subjects to avoid and, naturally, which ones to bring up to get under one another’s skin.
Chris is firmly in his “I don’t give a crap” phase, letting secrets and opinions fly out of his mouth with no particular concern about who might be listening. For a man who’s spent his life keeping things quiet, he’s suddenly very interested in sharing. It doesn’t help that he’s writing a tell-all book about his time with the agency, something the higher-ups aren’t eager to see in a bookstore anytime soon. He’s also becoming forgetful, leaving himself notes à la Christopher Nolan’s Memento.
All of this is happening much to the dismay of Lee, who’s just trying to hold everything together. Keeping Chris from saying something disastrous is practically a full-time job, and the constant phone calls from his cheating wife (Parker Posey) aren’t doing much for his stress level.
Their trip gets even more complicated when Chris befriends two young Chilean students, Monica (Mariana di Girolamo) and Alicia (Ailín Salas). They’re hardly the ideal audience for a CIA agent who can’t keep his mouth shut, especially with what’s about to happen in their country. But Chris starts to form a connection with Monica, and their scenes together show a tender side that you wouldn’t expect. For a guy who seems determined to offend everyone he meets, watching him let his guard down gives Malkovich some of his best moments.
Buscemi’s MJ, meanwhile, is the perfect foil for the pair. He has absolutely no time for their nonsense and seems exhausted by them before they’ve even left. Buscemi can get a laugh out of the smallest reaction, and putting him on the receiving end of these two is almost unfair.
I could watch Rockwell and Malkovich spar for hours. Every time they’re on screen together, it’s pure joy. I recently spoke with casting director Sarah Finn about her work on the film, and watching these two together makes you appreciate just how much the right pairing can bring to a story. Malkovich will let a line hang there just long enough for Rockwell’s frustration to build, and then somehow make it worse. Their timing is fantastic, but what makes the relationship work is the affection underneath all that irritation.
Malkovich is particularly great here. Chris can be obnoxious, casually cruel and very funny, sometimes within the same sentence. But Malkovich also lets you see the weariness beneath the attitude. As the film goes on, his refusal to keep quiet starts to feel like something more than a reason to aggravate Lee.
McDonagh doesn’t waste much time on extraneous nonsense. Even the conversations that seem to be wandering off somewhere have a way of finding their purpose later.
The Easter Island setting makes it easy to get lost in the scenery, but even surrounded by all that beauty, they are still dragging around years of ugly history. You get so caught up in their ridiculous back-and-forth that their affection for each other almost sneaks up on you.
