Queerguru reviews ON SWIFT HORSES in which Jacob Elordi confirms he really is a new James Dean

]It’s very surprising that, being 6.5 tall and with his matinee idol looks, the Australian actor Jacob Elordi didn’t register on our horizon until 2023.  Up until then, he had an impressive body of work that included the Eurphora TV series and The Kissing Booth series of films.  But then he portrayed a controlling Elvis Presley in the Sofia Coppola–directed Priscilla Presley biopic, for which he received some heady reviews for his rendition of the King, includung the BBC’s Nicholas Barber calling him ‘a relevation‘  Coppola said that she chose Elordi for the role partially because of his effect on women, but in his next performance in Saltburn, he played a rather grand Oxford University student who was the object of another male student’s lust. For that role, he earned a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

The whole subject of repressed sexuality is a major part of Elordi’s latest and best film to date, ON SWIFT HORSES. Set in mid-America in the 1950s and he plays Julius, the younger brother of Lee (Will Poulter) who is just returning home from the Korean War.  Lee is expecting Julius to live with him and Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones), his wife, in San Deigo, but he prefers to go to Las Vegas and work in a casino.  There, he meets Henry, (Diego Calva) a male co-worker, and they fall in love and begin a secret romantic relationship, including living together in a motel room.  Meanwhile, Muriel surprises herself and us by embarking on her own secret life. Set against the restricted and judgmental culture of that era, this excellent period piece melodrama captures the complex nature of queer life,  which here is also a means of escape from the drudgery of suburban life. With its unpredictable storyline, it’s impossible not to be sitting on the edge of your seat until the very last scene

Directed by Daniel Minahan, with excellent acting from all the main cast, but it is very much Elordi’s picture. His finely nuanced performance makes you realize from the very first scene, you are watching our generation’s James Dean.  High praise indeed but one that he so thoroughly deserves,

Review by ROGER WALKER-DACK.

Creator, Owner, Editor-in-Chief.  Miami Beach, FL / Provincetown, MA

Member of G.A.L.E.C.A. (Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association) and NLGJA The Association of LGBT Journalists. and The Online Film Critics Society. Ex Contributing Editor The Gay Uk & Contributor Edge Media Former CEO and Menswear Designer of  Roger Dack Ltd in the UK