Jockey (7/10)

by Tony Medley

90 minutes.

R.

This is a probably relatively realistic story of an aging jockey, Jackson Silva (Clifton Collins, Jr.), who wants to win one last big race for his trainer, Ruth Wilkes (Molly Parker). It’s been a tough life for Silva, with three broken backs and palsy already present in his whip hand.

Into the mix comes a young jockey, Gabriel Boullait (Moises Arias), who might be his son. While Silva initially dismisses the idea, it stays as a possibility in his mind throughout the film, making for a tense relationship.

Directed by Clint Bentley (who also wrote with Greg Kwedar), it’s a compact story that captures the back side of the horse racing world. It was filmed at Turf Paradise, a racetrack in Phoenix, Arizona and the players include real jockeys.

It is basically a story of relationships, between Silva and Wilkes, and Silva and Boullait.  While it does possibly capture the lives of jockeys to a certain extent, what this does not show is the dirty little secret that some races are fixed by the jockeys themselves for various reasons, and that is part of the life. That would make a good movie, but you are probably never going to see it.

All three of the main actors give fine performances and the story of the relationships is finely balanced with the sports facet of the film. For me, however, the best aspect of the movie is the exceptional cinematography by Adolfo Veloso, which is Oscar® quality. Throughout the film he captures beautiful, artistic scenes that alone might be worth the price of admission.