Dark Horse

Set in a contemporary present, the film follows Abe's attempts to win Miranda while navigating familial expectations and personal illness. The narrative shifts through moments of confrontation, dreamlike interruptions, and a coma that blur what is real. The time frame underscores the immediacy of his emotional stakes and the fragility of relationships.

Dark Horse unfolds across an urban landscape anchored by bars, a crowded parking lot, a toy store visit, a hospital, and Abe's family home. The settings emphasize Abe's claustrophobic world and the interplay between ordinary spaces and his obsessive fantasies. These locations act as mirror stages for his pursuit of love, conflict with family, and slips between dream and reality.

💔 Love and Obsession

Abe's fixation on Miranda grows into an all-consuming pursuit that blinds him to reality. Rejection becomes fuel for him to push boundaries, misread signals, and lash out when challenged. The story traces how desire can morph into control, with dangerous consequences for both lovers and bystanders. It ultimately questions whether love can survive when it is fed by fantasy rather than mutual trust.

🎭 Reality vs Illusion

The film frames Abe's world as a series of dreamlike interruptions and confrontations that blur what is real and what is desired. Marie often appears as a spectral presence that challenges Abe's grip on reality. A coma and a sequence of strange coincidences keep the audience guessing about the nature of the events. The narrative invites reflection on how easily perception can masquerade as truth.

🏠 Family Pressure

Abe lives under intense parental scrutiny, with his father planning to replace him and his mother revealing long-held beliefs about his worth. The motif of the father's note and the family home underscores the burden of expectations and the fear of failure. The title’s motif, a dark horse, mirrors the pressure to prove oneself despite overwhelming odds. Domestic scenes become the battleground where self-worth is negotiated.

🩺 Illness and Mortality

Hepatitis, jaundice, and a prolonged coma anchor the story in the fragility of life. Abe's health crises force reckoning with love, loyalty, and truth, reshaping relationships and priorities. The plot's fatalistic turn culminates in a striking, ambiguous ending that lingers after the physical life is in question. Illness becomes a metaphor for the costs of pursuing an illusion at the expense of others.